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An oasis of success in Uttar Pradesh public sector
Wednesday, 13 August 2003, 19:30 IST
LUCKNOW: In Uttar Pradesh, a state perpetually battling the red in its slothful public enterprises, a reformed state-run agency receiving international quality certification is indeed big news.
In India's most populous state where about 90 percent of public sector undertakings have been threatened with closure, the Uttar Pradesh Housing and Development Board has bagged ISO 9001-2000 certification from the Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), a Paris-based quality certification body.
Twenty months ago, when housing commissioner V.N. Garg announced his mission to transform the working of the then sick board, few paid heed to his words. But Garg achieved what many considered to be impossible, that too without resorting to mass punishments.
"We did have to do some policing, but with a human touch," a proud Garg told IANS.
Complete computerisation down to each of the board's 128 units spread over the state's 70 districts brought in so much transparency that most loopholes automatically got plugged.
With a view to ending red tape and ambiguity in employees' tasks, the board clearly laid down the specific duty of each of its 5,000 staff members. A detailed protocol for each task, timeframe for each job and the actual time taken by the functionary concerned now gets fed into the computer system.
So how could all this happen in the plagued environment of governance that Uttar Pradesh is notorious for?
"It is thanks to experts from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow, free flow of ideas and cooperation of our 5,000 employees, besides of course a free hand and encouragement given by Housing Minister Lalji Tandon," Garg said.
"Among the first things I did was to seek the expertise of Arun Kumar Jain of IIM to prepare a Vision Statement for the housing board, which we aimed to turn into a world class organization.
"This was drilled deep into the minds of our employees at various levels through personal interaction. Soon we could inculcate a sense of pride among the employees, who gradually began to gear themselves up towards achieving that common goal."
A five-year plan charted out by the board envisaged a sustained annual growth that could take its turnover to 
10 billion.
"Our first success came with the change in mindset of the employees," said Garg. "With an annual target of putting 25,000 dwelling units in place, we also ensured a complete check on time overruns and cost overruns, which ultimately tell on the customer's pocket."
Added Kamran Rizvi, the board's additional commissioner who has served as Garg's able lieutenant: "Once a sense of duty, responsibility and accountability was in place among the staff and with transparency coming in with computerisation, positive customer feedback was bound to follow."
The bureaucrat duo became a major motivational force for the rest of the core team comprising management experts, engineers, town planners and workmen's representatives.
Getting the ISO 9001-2000 certification was no mean task. A BVQI team took stock of all the changes affected right down to the grassroots, particularly on customer interface.
"Only after confirming that the system was actually working did they issue the certification," Rizvi pointed out.
Today, approval of a residential map is done in 30 days while that for a group housing, institutional or commercial complex does not go beyond 90 days.
"I got my map cleared in just two weeks without having to make umpteen rounds of the offices of officials and engineers," said a pleasantly surprised Arun Kumar.
Senior citizen Prem Bahadur was amazed to receive his refund of registration fee within 10 days.
Information on availability of property, its cost and design is available off the shelf. Likewise, information on the procedure of allotment, calculation of instalments and final costing is readily available at the customer service counters.
"In an otherwise customer-unfriendly Uttar Pradesh, this is like a fantasy come true," said Andaleeb Ahmed, wife of a retired army officer who had earlier waited for six long years to get a response from the board on her registration of a house in Lucknow.
But will all this last long? It will, assure the architects of change at the board.
"BVQI certification is valid only for three years and periodical checks by their teams will ensure that the improvements affected remain in place.
Source: IANS
10 billion.
"Our first success came with the change in mindset of the employees," said Garg. "With an annual target of putting 25,000 dwelling units in place, we also ensured a complete check on time overruns and cost overruns, which ultimately tell on the customer's pocket."
Added Kamran Rizvi, the board's additional commissioner who has served as Garg's able lieutenant: "Once a sense of duty, responsibility and accountability was in place among the staff and with transparency coming in with computerisation, positive customer feedback was bound to follow."
The bureaucrat duo became a major motivational force for the rest of the core team comprising management experts, engineers, town planners and workmen's representatives.
Getting the ISO 9001-2000 certification was no mean task. A BVQI team took stock of all the changes affected right down to the grassroots, particularly on customer interface.
"Only after confirming that the system was actually working did they issue the certification," Rizvi pointed out.
Today, approval of a residential map is done in 30 days while that for a group housing, institutional or commercial complex does not go beyond 90 days.
"I got my map cleared in just two weeks without having to make umpteen rounds of the offices of officials and engineers," said a pleasantly surprised Arun Kumar.
Senior citizen Prem Bahadur was amazed to receive his refund of registration fee within 10 days.
Information on availability of property, its cost and design is available off the shelf. Likewise, information on the procedure of allotment, calculation of instalments and final costing is readily available at the customer service counters.
"In an otherwise customer-unfriendly Uttar Pradesh, this is like a fantasy come true," said Andaleeb Ahmed, wife of a retired army officer who had earlier waited for six long years to get a response from the board on her registration of a house in Lucknow.
But will all this last long? It will, assure the architects of change at the board.
"BVQI certification is valid only for three years and periodical checks by their teams will ensure that the improvements affected remain in place.
Source: IANS