Naveen LS who was the Chief Officer of Margao when this week started, hasn’t quite walked into the sunset. Margao has. Naveen was just a Chief officer of Margao (as opposed to just the MMC) who was doing a job the government pays him to. He looked so good, because many others in his position don’t do their jobs. They don’t keep watch.
Though Naveen wanted to put CCTV cameras in the room of his Chairperson, which triggered his removal process (in the garb of a ‘routine’ transfer), the metaphorical cameras he had installed through the system of city governance, had brought about openness in administration, transparency of decision making and the speed of delivery. Through the use of technology, he made it possible to view file movements and notings on decisions online. That was his real camera and he installed those not to keep a watch on the people of Margao, but to enable the people of Margao to keep watch. With his manipulative transfer, Margao’s cameras have been turned off.
But this was bound to happen. For a council used to red tapism, administrative blockages, clearing projects only when there is something in it for councillors; IAS officer Naveen was a nightmare. On top of all this, he was hot headed, a maverick and understood only one command- that of the system and of the people. Agreed that the manner in which he behaved with the Chairperson in his chamber, on the day Arthur D’Silva took charge of the MMC, was unbecoming of the position he held and the all India elite service he belongs to, but his turnaround of the governance of Margao, is undeniable.
The system needs officers like Naveen LS. And they need to be part of the real system where people come first. It will be a travesty if someone like Naveen gets sucked into the prevailing system, which is anti-people and pro-lobbies which control power. Margao has had its tryst with some very good officers, posted in the city like Sanjith Rodrigues and Prasanna Acharya. Alas the prevalent system has surely sampled them if not completely devoured them. We hope Naveen’s energy and even anger keeps him out of the clutches of this system which sucks good people into its vortex and chucks them out to fit into this very tainted system. With Naveen gone from MMC, this system has a fresh lease of life, while Margao will battle for survival.
Without an iota of drama let us say this. Naveen gave the people of Margao genuine hope of governance where peoples basic needs would be taken care of. Needs likes proper parking, effective waste management, removal of encroachments, quicker turn-around time for the delivery of services. The Margao Municipal Council’s councillors do not give the people of Margao that hope. What they do is give them despair, hopelessness, cynicism and despondency.
Importantly, Naveen’s removal and what it does to the city’s psyche is not just Margao’s narrative, but that of every urban body and actually every village panchayat. He did not reinvent the wheel. He did not write his own rule book. He did not amend the Constitution of India. He became different by simply following the rules. Those in any position of administrative power in urban or rural bodies should take inspiration from the manner in which Naveen worked in Margao. That is, if they haven’t been sucked and spat out by the prevailing anti people system.
Naveen LS is out of the MMC but ‘Naveenism’ should be the guiding spirit of the people of Margao to fight for what Naveen did. Only then can those cameras he installed, come on again.
