Dr Gautam Goswami,MD,IAS
Ravi Speaks:
Destiny plays cruel with the ones who excel in their young age:
How destiny plays a very cruel role with the people who attain a special recognition after a great hard labour put into it and then they leave us all alone here at a very young age. I really get deeply moved when I am reminded of my close school time friend Dr. Deepak Mathu. I have already written an article on his achievements and published the same earlier.After completing his MD in Medicine he cleared his civil services exams and joined the Police service at Srinagar-where while being in his early thirties he lost his precious life in suspicious circumstances.
Many stalwarts wanted to play a bigger innings but lived short:
Here I would like to mention that there have been many such stalwarts who achieved a lot in their earlier phases and as the luck would have it they did not last long.
Today I am bringing a brief about one more such person who proved to be very effective and brave in his earlier phase as the DM-Patna in 2004-09 time duration.
Dr. Gautam Goswami,MBBS,MD,IAS.
He was Dr. Gautam Goswami, who like Deepak did his IAS after doing MBBS, MD and rendered an exemplary tenure which ended at an earlier age of early forties.
His role in managing the catastrophe due to floods in Bihar:
After only a year, Bihar experienced severe flooding in 2005. There was a catastrophe of floods looming in Bihar, and Gautam Goswami did more than anyone to stop it. Gautam Goswami performed his duties admirably, earning the Asian Young Achiever award from Times Magazine and once more making headlines.
For his outstanding management of the Bihar government’s flood relief work earlier that year, Gautam was named one of the 20 “Young Asian Heroes” by Time magazine in its edition of October 11, 2004, therefore giving praise to bureaucracy, which is typically viewed as corrupt and ineffective.
The citation stated: “Millions of people were forced from their homes when flash floods struck the Indian state of Bihar in July, many of whom had no access to food or water.
Goswami oversaw a significant relief operation that comprised the Indian government, army, and foreign humanitarian organisations as the district magistrate—the senior bureaucrat—in Patna, the capital of Bihar. Goswami arrived at Patna’s airport hangar at 4:30 every morning to see off helicopters carrying food, water, tents, and medical supplies. He then made sure vehicle convoys were on their way to locations that could be reachable by land. Before the floodwaters subsided and the displaced people were able to return home, Goswami, 38, and his team laboured for a month.
His picture was featured on the cover of Times Magazine, which served as a reminder to many IAS officials on how to carry out their duties.
Nevertheless, he was accused of a Rs 18 crore swindle during the flood relief effort.
Santosh Jha, a close associate of Lalu Yadav’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, was the main suspect in this controversy.
Sadhu Yadav turned himself in to the court in December 2006, but after a month, he was given bail.
As DM-Patna-implementing Mode Of Conduct bravely:
He initially made national headlines in 2004. It was on April 7th, 2004 during an election rally when he physically blocked Lal Krishna Advani from speaking by placing his hand over microphones. Advani was the then-Union home minister. And the deputy Prime Minister also.
The electoral rally for Advani was taking place in Gandhi Maidan while Gautam Goswami was acting as the DM of Patna. Goswami enters the stage at precisely 10 PM and covers Advani’s microphone with his hand. Your time is over, sir. The officer informed the minister that usage of the public address system after 10 PM was prohibited by the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct.
Advani replies, “Do you realise who you’re talking to?”
“Sir, I am only performing my duties and I know very well what I am doing,” Goswami retorted.
Goswami, however, had to serve a year in prison. His health wasn’t great when he got out of jail. It was discovered that he had been given a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. At the age of 41, he passed away after losing his fight with cancer.
“There may be a stain on the moon, but blemishes on Goswami’s character were needless,” said his friends who knew him very well.
According to TIME magazine, Goswami’s reputation for following the law enhances the perception of a civil service that many Indians believe to be dishonest or ineffective. Ironically, the corrupt cop who was killed was a bureaucrat.
There are several instances of excellent officials and employees who suffered consequences for their honesty.
What did these officers receive for being honest and truthful?
In present times being honest and truthful are crime. They only get- Transfers, false-accusations and finally bullets.
In short if someone braves out to correct this malicious political system-he ends up either in some false allegation or wiped out very brutally from this world.
Talking about the false accusation we all are very well knowing the young officer from Haryana-Ashok Khemka.
IAS Ashok Khemka.
52 transfers occurred over his 27-year career. For preventing a land agreement between Robert Wadra and DLF, he made headlines. He examined Wadra in detail.
Where is he right now? From January 9, 2023, he has been serving as the additional chief secretary (archives department). In a letter, Khemka stated that, while earning a salary of Rs 40 lakh per year, he only spends around eight minutes a day working in the archives department.(what a system?)
Why I brought the civil services here-it was mainly because of my dear friend Deepak-to whom I was closely attached.
No matter how honestly a person serves the system, this corrupt system plays an impending role in ruining his or her career.
In the end I would like to conclude: Not all the politicians are corrupt but majority is.