Dinesh Kamath's news item 'CIDCO’s Radha wins the heart of villagers' that was published in Newsband

CIDCO’s Radha wins the heart of villagers

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO’s) joint MD Vennecaganti Radha belongs to the 1994 batch of Maharashtra cadre IAS officer. Vennecaganti Radha immediately went into the roots of the issue relating to the Navi Mumbai International Airport project. No sooner did she take up her position in CIDCO, she went to the extent of having a straight talk with the villagers, who were being asked to part with their land for the airport project to take off. The villagers expressed their unhappiness over what was being offered to them in return for their land. Radha promised the villagers to conduct a survey and do justice to them. The reasons for the delay of airport project are the issues of land acquisition and disagreement over compensation.

Radha is the one who had brought under control Mumbai’s octroi agents when she was working in the capacity of a joint municipal commissioner. She was responsible for lessening corruption to a great extent. When she arrived in Navi Mumbai she addressed the problems of women in Navi Mumbai first and foremost and tried to solve their problems by arranging meetings with them.

Before Radha took over her position in CIDCO, this organization was finding it tough to proceed with its ambitious airport project. The villagers were just not cooperating and were not allowing the conducting of the survey of their land. But these same villagers agreed when Radha, during a meeting with some women, convinced the villagers that a survey would do them a lot of good and that they stood to benefit a lot by the airport project. She managed to get them to promise to cooperate in this matter. So what the other officials of CIDCO could not do for one and a half years, Radha achieved it in hardly any time. She performed a kind of magic on the villagers who did not hesitate to allow CIDCO officials to conduct the survey in their village. Such was the charisma of Radha. Her public relation talents seemed to have an impact on the villagers. 

When Radha personally interacted with the villagers she became aware of their main problem which was non-receipt of their earlier dues. She found that they were angry about the fact that the government did not care to keep all its promises. Radha promised to fetch for them their earlier dues only after which she told them she would pursue the airport project. She has decided to keep her promise before dwelling on land acquisition issue with the villagers. She has also decided to set up a separate cell to clear 12.5% developed land files.

Radha has been keeping a close watch on officers in the compensation cell. She is totally against those developers, land agents and brokers who fool the villagers. She considers them as people with vested interest and she just can’t tolerate them. Her intention is to organize a direct face-to-face talk between government and the villagers. She is prepared to come down to the level where she will ask her officers to approach the villagers instead of latter coming to CIDCO office. She has directed her officials to pay all the dues of the villagers that are pending.

Radha’s first aim is to win the trust and confidence of the villagers only after which she expects her organization CIDCO to proceed towards pursuing of Navi Mumbai International Airport project. She is bent on paying the villagers the compensation that is due to them and she has absolutely no intention of cheating the villagers. She is indeed keen on acquiring the land of these villagers for the airport project but she would like to do it in a proper, legal and fair manner.

Thus Radha is the first person who has succeeded in winning the confidence of the villagers and this is a first major success of CIDCO in the matter of pursuing the airport project.