'Mini PMO' in Varanasi, too, gets busy with demonetisation

Besides its unofficial nomenclature, "Mini PMO", the hub of action in Varanasi has yet another link to the real Prime Minister’s Office at the South Block in New Delhi. That’s Nripendra — a key mover in both, though not comparable in scale or role. While Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the topmost official in the PMO, Nripendra P Singh is the go-to man at Jansampark Karyalaya or "Mini PMO" in Varanasi. Also, if demonetisation was planned and scripted at the PM's office in New Delhi, the "Mini PMO" in Varanasi is hearing out the complaints related to cash crunch in banks and ATMs in the city.        

 

Singh, a retired state government officer, is a part of a five-member core team handling the daily affairs at the other office of Modi. None of the members of the team draws any salary, insiders told Business Standard. 

There is no resemblance between the look and feel of the mini PMO, with barely three rooms, and the corridors of power at the South Block. But, Modi’s achievements and successes of the past two-and-a-half years in office are all over this Ravindrapuri office in Varanasi. 

The main entrance is embellished with the PM’s pictures from his foreign visits and rallies. Inside the office, billboards have listed the signature schemes of the PM, from Swachh Bharat to Smart Cities, and Digital India to Make In India. 

Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary, is active in taking up labour and health issues of the people in the city, locals pointed out. Handling close to 80-100 grievances every day, Singh and his associates travel across the city, to take stock of the development work being done. 

When this reporter visited the mini PMO, a complaint had just landed against a bank manager who allegedly misbehaved with some locals when they went to withdraw money. So, how’s Varanasi coping with demonetisation?

“After demonetisation, people have lined up with similar complaints. We are trying to help them as much as we can but the most we can do is be patient,” said an office-bearer. 

Singh, however, steered the conversation away from the complaint, saying any major step has teething trouble but it is short-lived. “Nikal jaiye kahin bhi Banaras mein, log line mein hain par santusht hain ki badlaav shuru ho gaya (Go anywhere in Varanasi, you will see people standing in queues but they are satisfied with the fact that change has begun),” said Singh. 

But writing to the PM directly is a solution that many complainants have suggested as a way out, even during demonetisation. Promising to put the stamp of “Sansadiya Karalaya, Varanasi”, a Mini PMO representative told an aggrieved local, “The PM’s office is very sensitive to such issues. Write directly there and your problem will be definitely looked into.” 

That does not mean, however, that problems have ended in this city. A Varanasi resident said, “I perform at functions hosted by senior officers but haven’t received payment for a month.’’ 

As the office turned quiet, Singh got back to tracking the development work around the area. Apart from health services, the Mini PMO is stepping up its focus on employment generation, a key poll promise. Information technology is yet another area of attention.

“We have been pursuing with every minister who comes here that there should be at least one IT hub in or around Varanasi,’’ a volunteer said. Metro rail, too, is an area of importance that is being talked about aggressively.

Varanasi has been selected as one of the cities to be developed under the Smart City project. For that, traffic decongestion, urban power reforms, public transport, and modern health services are among the top agenda for both local and central authorities. And, the Mini PMO keeps a close track of the work being done the central agencies, said an official of a central ministry working in Varanasi. 

But for now, there’s no escaping the grievances on demonetisation, even at this smaller avatar of the PMO.