Just a couple of days ago, I met with Praveen Gedam, a medical doctor, who has chosen to nurse more than just diseases. Dr. Praveen Gedam, an IAS officer of 2002 batch is Maharashtra Government’s famous troubleshooter with an interesting history. Few years ago, a businessman donated Rs. 1500 crores to the Vitthal temple of Pandharpur on the condition that the government must come up with a rock-solid plan for development of Pandharpur, where every penny is accounted for. The way he was assured of transparency and efficiency was: Dr. Gedam was transferred to the district as the collector!
It was Dr. Gedam’s bulletproof paperwork and intolerance of corruption that saw powerful Maharashtra politicians behind bars for Gharkul Housing Scam involving 216 crore rupees. Usually, when most of the scams are exposed, and the accused escape through some loophole or the other. Here was an example, a politician, whose party was in power, couldn’t avoid jail because he was so thoroughly exposed with impeccably detailed evidence and paperwork.
You know how exams used to be held at and around my place? Students didn’t study for exams, they copied. There was an elaborate system in place for copying. Invigilators would turn a blind eye, peons would carry printed answers to the candidates. “Anti-copy squad” was a joke. Exam centers would know beforehand that the squad is going to visit the center, just before the visit of the squad, chits, notes, and whole books would be collected from the copying students in sackfuls and thrown away, making the center ‘clean’. Boy! How I hated it! When Dr. Gedam came to my district as the District Collector, he put an end to it. He showed that all it takes to do away with most of the filth in our society is one strong-willed officer!
When I was a kid, a very small kid, I used to say “I want to become a scientist when I grow up”. When I grew up a slight bit more, it changed to “I want to become an IAS officer!”. Dr. Gedam made me change that to “I want to become an IAS officer like Dr. Praveen Gedam!”. That hasn’t changed till date.
I had a lot of questions about IAS as a career option. Friends and relatives alike have told me that I shouldn’t be a starry eyed kid gung-ho about IAS. I should actually try to find the ground truth. I should try to find out how it is like to be an IAS officer for real, because they feared it is something I won’t actually like. Who better to ask these questions to than Dr. Gedam himself! And that’s how, on a fine Saturday morning, a government holiday, I ended up in his office, 350 km away from my home.