It was indeed a great inning

 It was indeed a great inning 

I joined Government of Gujarat on 30 July 1979 and superannuating after serving it for 41 years on 31 July 2020. It was a bright journey of life with academic excellence, meritorious selections and organised outstanding work performance. 

I was born and brought up in Ahmedabad. 30 of 41 years of my service have been passed in Gandhinagar as the HQ. I was probationer in Panchmahals (present Panchmahals, Dahod and Lunawada districts). I served as AC&SDM of Dahod (now district); DDO of Mehsana (present Mehsana and Patan districts), Junagadh (present Junagadh, Porbandar and Gir Somnath districts), Valsad (present Valsad and Navsari districts); Collector & District Magistrate of Kutch, Prabhari Sachiv of Surendranagar, Valsad and Botad districts, and Rapar developing Taluka.

I served as HoD of Director Social Welfare, Commissioner of Schools & MDM, Commissioner of Fisheries, VC and Managing Director of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation, Commissioner of Cottage Industries, Commissioner of Relief and Ex-Officio Principal Secretary Disaster Management.

I served as Deputy/Joint Secretary in Roads and Building Department, Health and Family Welfare Department, Revenue Department, General Administration Department (Kalpsar). I had six years exposure in Home, Irrigation, Narmada and Water Resources Departments before joining into IAS. 

I have served as Secretary of Cottage Industries (IMD); Principal Secretary of Revenue Department (Disaster Management), Panchayat Rural Housing and Rural Development Department, Forest and Environment Department; Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department, Health and Family Welfare Department and Agriculture Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department. 

I served as VC of GSRTC, Vice President of ASRTU, Chairman of Central Institute of Road Transport Pune; Chairman of Gujarat State Handlooms and Handicrafts Development Corporation, Gujarat Khadi and Gramodhyog Board, GRIMCO, Rural Technology Institute, Eartwork Artisan Board, IndextC, Gujarat State Rural Housing Corporation, Gujarat Panchayat Services Recruitment Board, Gujarat Ecology Commission, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, GEER Foundation, Gujarat Biotechnology Institute, Gujarat Urban Development Company, Gujarat Urban Development Mission, Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (running eight medical colleges), Gujarat Medical Services Corporation, Project Implementation Unit (Health), Medicity Ahmedabad, UN Mehta Cardiology Research Centre, Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre, Gujarat Land Development Corporation, Gujarat State Seeds Certification Agency, Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), State Agriculture Extention Training Institute, etc, and VC of Gujarat Horticulture Mission, Gujarat Horticulture Knowledge Society. 

I served as Director of the Board in Gujarat Maritime Board, National Silk Board, Gujarat Cancer Research Institute, GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), G-RIDE (Gandhinagar Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation), BISAG (Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Application and Geoinformatics), etc.

The service gave experience of conducting elections as Returning Officer of Patan (1989) and Porbandar (1991) Parliamentary Constituencies, District Election Officer of Assembly and Local Bodies Elections in Kutch District (1995). ECI gave opportunities as Election Observer of Parliamentary Constituencies: Nalgonda (AP 1996), Sangroor (Punjab 1999), Shahdol (MP 2004), Mumbai South central (Maharashtra 2009); Assembly Constituencies: Bagapat (UP 2002), Kaholgam (Bihar 2005), Chakrata (Uttarakhand 2007), Indore (MP 2008), Marhaura (Saran- Bihar 2010), Kannur (Kerala 2011), Bhadaur (Barnala-Punjab 2012). It was duty but simultaneously were opportunities to see and study the great and diverse culture of the country.

It was a great exposure on disaster management front to handle CoR job as well as head the Team Gujarat for rescue and relief operations during Kedarnath Natural Calamity of flash flood in 2013. To lead a delegation to South Africa and Kenya during Vibrant Gujarat 2017 was encouraging event of exploring business from African countries. They were good opportunities to sell Gujarat Handicrafts and study buying behaviours of international customers in Handicrafts Exhibition at Los Angeles (US), São Paulo (Brazil) and Leister (UK) post depression. The event of China Pharmaceutical Industry Internationalization Strategy Summit at Shanghai-China clarified a broad outline of Indo-China dependency in Pharma industries. To accompany a business delegation lead by the CM of Gujarat to Uzbekistan to explore business opportunities for Gujarat farmers and industries gave me an opportunity to read Babur and his adventurous journey of making him Padshah from a small kingdom of Andijan to become Emperor of India. 

The service gave opportunities to become alumnus of Ljubljana University (Slovenia), Harvard (USA), Cambridge (UK), Yokohama Training Centre (JICA Japan), Australian Nation Academy (Canberra, Australia), EMDC (Shepherdstown, USA), Central Civil Defence and Disaster Management Institute (Seongnam-Cheonon, South Korea); Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration Mussoorie, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Kolkata, IIM Bangalore, NIRD Hyderabad, Uttarakhand Academy of Administration, National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi, National Academy of Audit and Accounts Simla. 

Was it not a wonderful inning with great opportunities to serve the people of Gujarat. It was indeed. 

Punamchand 

31 July 2020