It was in recognition of this accomplishment as the DM of Jabalpur in 2005 that Dubey was conferred with the prestigious “PM Award for Excellence for his efforts to remove encroachments of religious nature on public roads and land without hurting local sentiments” on the occasion of Civil Service Day on April 21, 2010. Bureaucracy Today got into conversation with the man who made it look almost too easy.
When we first met Sanjay Dubey, the incumbent CEO of the Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority, we asked him how proud a moment it was for him and his family, his reply was prompt, “Of course, it is a proud moment for us, but what is more heartening is that the initiatives I took have been replicated and are yielding fruitful results”.
‘Not an atheist’
“I’m not an atheist,” he explains upfront, referring to the nature of work which included the absolute demolition of religious idols. “It was a gradual and continuous achievement which was only made possible with the efforts of the entire team involved in this particular exercise,” says Sanjay.
Sanjay recollects that in 2004, many religious organisations and individuals had constructed places of worship like temples, mosques, churches, mazars, religious platforms, etc., on the main roads and important crossings resulting in huge gatherings by the road side, chaos and disputes, thus creating problems for the general public.
“No action could earlier be taken in this regard as these religious places were related to the religious sentiments and emotions of the common man,” Sanjay explains.
What was interesting was that the construction of these places involved a lot of research and careful planning. “It was booming business. The people involved in installing these places of worship clearly understood that it was a highly viable trade option”. According to Sanjay, the construction was usually carried out by one person or organisation and was later franchised or leased out to somebody else to take care of the place and administer the constant flow of offerings.
When the proposal was first tabled by Sanjay at a peace committee meeting, it was vehemently opposed by politicians, religious leaders, police, the Revenue Department and the administration among many others.
“In order to ensure the peaceful removal of these structures from public places, it was essential that we did not hurt people’s sentiments. We needed to tell the general public that these places were illegal and were hindering the development of their city roads.
As an administrator, when you are fully dedicated towards a cause, have no personal interests or gains associated with it and have a clean reputation to go with it, gathering public support for a just cause only takes a little effective communication,” Sanjay observes.
In order to make the people aware about the true nature of these religious spots, Sanjay involved a lot of people at various levels to approach the public and try and communicate with them on their level. “We involved people from all walks of life for communicating our cause. They included the administration, police, businessmen and even politicians.”
Meetings with religious gurus
What made the difference was Sanjay’s individual approach. “I, along with the SP, personally met the religious gurus, politicians, etc., and addressed whatever their personal apprehensions were. They needed to be convinced that the move would not backfire against them and that the move would not create any communal disharmony,” explains Sanjay.
Once the leaders got convinced that what was happening was not against any particular religion or community, but was instead focused only on the development of the city, things started falling in place.
We had already recognised 566 religious places which were illegally constructed. SDMs, CSPs, TIs, Tehsildars and the other government staff were earlier instructed to collect detailed information about these places. The information including the date of construction of the place, the number of people associated with it, the main representatives, the cost of its demolition, traffic movement in those areas, etc. These people were then contacted separately and were made to understand the impact and usefulness of the demolition of the structure and their moral support was obtained.
When Sanjay’s team began the first phase of the demolition, residents of that particular area were interested in the removal of illegal structures themselves and were out to support the District Administration in this regard.
All demolitions were carried out under the Municipal Corporation Act of MP, 1956, MP Revenue code 1959, and the MP Public Places Act 2001 and the decision of the MP High Court on writ petition 2214/2005.
These demolitions were largely publicised to get wide support of the general public in the process. Soon there was an environment created where there was no opposition by the religious communities in demolishing such structures.
“The most important thing was that everybody involved needed to own this decision and then execute it effectively, without any fear. We also arranged for prayers to be held in temples, mosques, gurudwaras and churches before they were demolished”. “A religious sentiment merged with economic viability is a very dangerous combination,” Sanjay says.
During a time span of three years, Sanjay managed to remove 311 out of 566 structures identified to have been raised illegally. He has also received three other national-level awards for e-governance for separate achievements.
Even after a series of achievements and recognitions, Sanjay likes to keep his feet on the ground. “I haven’t looked back, there is still a long way to go, lots of things to be done and lots to be achieved. I just hope I can carry on serving the people and constantly working towards their development,” Sanjay concludes.
