Mauli Bhatt: Piloting Maya's government

BACKSTAGE

What was behind the Uttar Pradesh government's volte-face on the closure of organised retail stores such as those run by Reliance Retail? Shashank Shekhar Singh, a professional pilot, who is now the Cabinet Secretary of UP, is the prime mover of most major policy initiatives in the last four months of the BSP government in the state. This includes the new international airport at NOIDA, the new expressway from Greater NOIDA to Varanasi, the decision to privatise 61 PSUs, and the changed priorities in the annual budget in June. Apart from the fact that no state has ever had a Cabinet Secretary's post, Singh is a non-IAS officer.

Singh is presently busy is shaping the state's ambitious rural employment policy and a series of other policy measures for unlocking value in public sector undertakings, particularly in the transport and health sectors; his other job is to woo private investors to the state. And though the government has withdrawn the ordinance amending the UP Agriculture Produce Marketing Board Act which would have allowed firms like Reliance Retail to procure directly from farmers, Singh says that the issue will be sorted out within this month "" that is, some way will be found to allow firms to source their products from farmers.

A former army officer, commissioned in 1970 and ranked as an ace helicopter pilot, Singh was brought on deputation to the state government and was absorbed as a director of civil aviation in 1980. In the mid-80s, the then chief minister Veer Bahadur Singh made him secretary of the civil aviation department. That was the turning point, and Singh never missed an opportunity to prove his mettle. His task commenced with the creation of new airfields as well as the revival of some old and abandoned World War II airfields in Uttar Pradesh that included present-day Uttarakhand.

Singh has served in various capacities including being the principal secretary of the tourism and technical education departments. He was selected as CMD of Indian Airlines when Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the Prime Minister in 1990, but was not relieved by the state government to take up the assignment. During President's Rule in the state in 1995-96, the then UP Governor Romesh Bhandari made him his principal secretary, a highly sought-after slot.

Since Chief Minister Mayawati rarely attends office, except presiding over the weekly cabinet meetings, bureaucrats visit her with files, which she reportedly tries to avoid as much as she can. So while she concentrates on politics, it is Singh who looks after the task of running the government on a day-to-day basis. Singh, who retires in 2010, is known to be media-shy, especially since he knows the all-powerful IAS lobby in the state is just waiting for him to slip up.