Revisiting Tripura- my second Home
Dr Sanjay Kumar Panda
June 13, 2025
After completing phase-I
training in the LBS Academy of Administration, Mussorie, my journey with
Tripura started in the third week of June 1981. On reaching Agartala airport by
a small turbo propelled aircraft, I had a mixed feeling of joy and excitement of
acquiring new responsibility of working for the people, along with fear of
unknown, typical to the North-eastern region based on the perception fed by the
mainland media.
My impression changed fast,
as I settled down under the close and continuous mentoring by Shri S R
Shankaran, the then Chief Secretary, and company of my batch mates in IAS and
IFoS (Praveen, P C Sharma, Late RL Sribastaba and Tangwan). In the aftermath of
the communal riot of June 1980, with large number of tribal and Bengali speaking
non-tribal families in refugee camps, our introduction to public service was
one of handling public affairs with care and compassion. With care and
patience, Mr Shankaran sensitised and ingrained in to us the basic purpose of
public service in serving the poor and needy which was rare of its kind.
Change is the law of nature.
There were many ups and downs. Tackling insurgency remained the major issue in
the state over the next three decades, claiming a lion share of time and
financial resources. Notwithstanding these inherent limitations, achievements
of the state were recognised at the national level for good governance
including controlling insurgency. Looking back, the overall experience of
serving in the state remained professionally very satisfying, in comparison to
our batch mates in the mainland states.
Along with my spouse, I had
last visited the state in September 2024. We were overwhelmed by the warmth and
affection of persons, both within and outside government. It was fascinating to
see that old Agartala city bustling with cheerful youth, a vibrant service
sector and evening life like any other mainland states. It gave us a rare and
pleasant sense of home coming. I am thankful to Chief Secretary, Shri J K Sinha
for adding me in the “CSOI Tripura” WhatsApp group, it gave regular
updates on various innovative administrative practices taken up in the state
for public.
Out of the information
posted on this site, I found two recent ones to be fascinating. First one was
from Shashi, the ace photographer, depicting the colourful boats given to the
youths, living around the Dumboor Lake, for pisciculture as well as for
promotion of tourism for ferrying the tourists to the Narikul kunj. In the
1990s, this area used to be known for the wrong reasons as the hot bed
of insurgency.
The second one was from
Sailesh about the initiative taken for development of the waterbody in the MBB
tilla complex, under the 04 million US Dollar ADB Agartala Smart City project,
which is ready for inauguration).
I recalled my experience
with the Domboor Lake taking bath in the cold water during the Makar
Sankranti mela in January. There were attempt to develop water body (Dim
Sagar near north gate) with available resources.
I
feel the two cases mentioned above are only some of the cases of excellence,
happening in the state recently. As a firm believer of “Excellence is never
an accident, rather it is the result of well-conceived idea, meticulous
planning and execution with passion, hard, sincere work in a flawless manner”,
I would take the opportunity to congratulate the chief secretary and thorough
him each and every member of the team, who have made it possible.
While sharing my best wishes
with the concerned officials, I would like to flag two issues, for doing justice
to the investment made out of public exchequer. Firstly, the new opportunity
created is required to be utilised for solving the two major challenges faced
by the state, namely unemployment and relative deprivation. Secondly, the
assets created are required to be managed efficiently for generating adequate
amount for its maintenance without looking for additional financial support
from government. Undoubtedly, development in education, skill and
entrepreneurship in the state would make efficient management of these assets
possible with enterprising local youth.
By nature, training and with experience, I am incorrigible optimist. I have full faith and confidence on the tech savvy, younger colleagues that they will do the needful and take Tripura to greater heights ensuring peace and prosperity for all.
(Tripurainfo)
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