Homing in on Jha

Did you have any specific agenda in mind when you took over as municipal commissioner in Pune?
My first exercise in the initial days would be to sit with all my officers and go in-depth into the working of each department, learn what each department felt was lacking as far as its working was concerned. These meetings in the initial two months threw light on a lot of issues. Most cities have similar problems, but each city also has it’s special strengths and weaknesses. Based on our analysis we determined our priorities and then got down to work.

Did you anticipate the kind of opposition some of your actions generated?
I was aware that there were bound to be differences of opinion. What I wanted was that the issues be debated and not shelved. Civic issues do not go away just because they are not discussed.

Are you satisfied with what you have achieved in Pune?
I am happy that a lot of insight could be imparted to the PMC in terms of long-term and macro planning.

How was your posting in Pune different from the previous posts you have held?
“It was a much richer posting in the sense that the level of interaction was more varied. I interacted with slum dwellers, the middle class, local corporators, state-level politicians, expert organisations like the NGOs and professionals like traders, architects, planners and builders. So in all it made for a vastly richer experience.

Is there anything in particular you are going to miss about Pune?
Well, I was looking forward to carrying forth the development plan and handling it differently, which I won’t be doing now.

You have bought a flat in Pune – any post retirement plans of settling down in the city?
Also it seems your family may not be accompanying you to Mumbai but will stay on in Pune.

We have still not decided whether we will all shift to Mumbai or my wife and daughters will stay back in Pune. However if my daughters get admission in Mumbai then we would prefer to go there as we can all be together. As for the house I have in Pune I bought it mainly because every time I take over a public office I am never very certain when I might get transferred (smiles).

I mean it almost happened in Pune ten months ago. So I felt that in case my transfer comes at a time when the academic year is on I did not want my daughters’ studies to get disrupted. So basically it was to protect myself against any such inconvenience that I went in for a flat in Pune.

Does a crisis in office affect your home life as well?
Usually I do not allow my official life to affect my family – I like to keep office away from home. But of course one cannot do it all the time. My family is very supportive and when I am tense at home because of work, which is rare, they do feel tense too.

Tell us something more about your family.
Well, my wife and I were classmates in Patna. We did our post graduation together and got married in 1977. So that makes it 22 years of marriage. We have two daughters aged 17 and 13. The elder one is awaiting her twelfth standard results and the younger one is in school. Right now I don’t think either of them is very keen on becoming a civil servant, but theelder one might just go in for this line. Also we have four dogs who are a complete family too – father, mother and their two pups.

As a civil servant you obviously do not get much time for your family as you would like to. How do they take this?
It’s true I get very little time for my family. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have always been saddled with very heavy jobs and it so happens that they become even heavier once I take over! I end up creating a lot of work. However my family has learnt to accept it. And apart from my office I do not socialise too much. I have realised that you can either have a social life or a family life. So I avoid the former unless the engagement is very important and has a bearing on my job. In fact the only time we spent together as a family was when I went to Australia for a year’s course in 1993. Otherwise we rarely go out vacationing. n So are you trying to pack in as much as family time as possible in these few days before you join in Mumbai?

There is really no time to rest even now, with lot of farewells and functions being organised. Actually I took time off mainly for this purpose as I could not leave without saying a proper goodbye to so many people in Pune. The only other thing I seem to be doing is swimming.

That seems to be a passion…
Basically I believe that it is very important to be physically fit to be mentally alert. And I have chosen swimming not because I like it the best but because I cannot pursue other more vigorous sports due to injuries I have suffered while playing cricket and football in my earlier days. I don’t want to aggravate those injuries and so swimming is a safe exercise. Besides Pune is blessed with a number of swimming pools and I have often mixed inspection of pools with swimming sessions since the best way to test a pool is to swim in it!

Finally how would you define yourself as a bureaucrat?
One factor I have always been aware of in my job, wherever I have gone, is to think deeply about the job and not restrict myself to mere routine and try and pack in as much activity as possible in the two to three years one gets in the post.

And as a person?
I try to be a normal person. I know that the jobs are transient and so is the decision-making power. So one should take the decision-making authority that one has as a temporary thing and not let the power go to the head. My attitude is to be friendly with everyone but do the job as per the requirements of my office.