Inside The Secretariat: Future Cities, Floating Solar, & Kalpasar Delays

Shalini Agrawal’s Urban Vision Book In Focus

A book written by 2005-batch IAS officer Shalini Agrawal, titled “Shaping Tomorrow’s Cities”, has become a topic of discussion in the Gujarat Secretariat over the past two days. Agrawal, who was transferred in January from Municipal Commissioner of Surat to Managing Director of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL), has drawn upon her extensive experience in urban administration to write the book. Having served for long tenures in Surat and earlier as Municipal Commissioner of Vadodara, Agrawal has used her hands-on experience of urban governance and city management as the foundation of the book. The book, which explores what future cities should look like and how they can be planned, was formally released by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. In Shaping Tomorrow’s Cities, Agrawal has also documented several of her experiences as a Municipal Commissioner, highlighting practical lessons from managing rapidly growing urban centres. The book has been published at a time when the Gujarat government is placing strong emphasis on urban infrastructure development in major cities. It underlines the importance of forward-looking planning and policy formulation to tackle environmental and social challenges arising from rapid urbanisation.

Gujarat Clears IPS Logjam

The Gujarat Home Department has finally carried out a reshuffle, giving postings to 12 IPS officers who had been waiting for appointments for a long time. Their pending postings had been a subject of discussion in the Secretariat for the past several months. In recent years, such a situation had rarely been witnessed where IPS officers remained without postings for an extended period and had to repeatedly make representations at higher levels for assignments. Interestingly, Shamsher Singh, a 1991-batch IPS officer who returned from central deputation in January, has finally been posted to the Home Guards after nearly two months. He is due to retire on 31 March. Another officer, Gagandeep Gambhir, who had served on deputation with the CBI and returned in 2024, has now been appointed to the State Monitoring Cell in Gandhinagar, considering his experience in handling high-profile investigations. It is also noteworthy that Ahmedabad city police, which earlier had seven zones, has now added an eighth zone. Mayur Patil has been appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for the newly created zone.

Possibility Of Swift Transfers Of Collectors & DDOs

Even if there are no major changes in the administrative setup of departments at the Secretariat, significant reshuffling is expected in the district administration. Transfers are likely to take place swiftly as elections to local self-government institutions may be announced either during or soon after the ongoing legislative session. In particular, large-scale changes are expected in the district collectorate. Recently, Mehul Dave, the Collector of Gandhinagar, retired, and another officer has been given additional charge of the vacant post. Similarly, the transfer of Sujit Kumar, the Collector of Ahmedabad, has become almost certain following his promotion as Secretary. In the same way, the transfer of more than one and a half dozen Collectors and District Development Officers (DDOs) is expected, including Anand Patel, who has been serving in Kutch for a long time.

Floating Solar Project Planned In View Of CWG

Preparations for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) are becoming visible in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. While efforts are underway to develop Ahmedabad as an Olympic-ready city, the focus is also shifting toward environmentally friendly renewable energy initiatives, including the implementation of floating solar projects. Floating solar panels will be installed on the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad as well as on water bodies and lakes where water is available. These installations are expected to generate around 125 MW of renewable energy, which will be used for the sports infrastructure related to the Commonwealth Games. At the same time, following instructions to reduce pollution and improve the Air Quality Index (AQI) in both cities, large-scale planning is underway, including the development of green public transportation systems and other environmental measures. The responsibility for implementing these initiatives has been assigned to the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

No More Discretion In Board Meetings Of PSUs

Arbitrary functioning and negligence by officials of the state’s public sector undertakings and government companies will no longer be tolerated. The state Finance Department has issued instructions that the agenda for any board meeting must be circulated to all participating officials at least seven days in advance. Typically, members receive the agenda just a day before the board meeting, which leaves them with little time to prepare or study the issues to be discussed. The heads of administrative departments of the government have been directed to ensure compliance with these instructions in the public sector undertakings and government companies under their jurisdiction. The Finance Department has also clarified that online table agendas should be presented only in unavoidable and exceptional circumstances. Otherwise, the agenda must be shared at least one week prior to the board meeting.

Rakesh Shankar’s New Plan Against Malnutrition

Following widespread complaints of malnutrition and administrative irregularities, the state’s Women and Child Development Department has decided to introduce a new facility by establishing an AI-based Special Monitoring Centre, with an estimated cost of ₹24 crore. Through this centre, real-time data will be available on the quality of nutritious food and health check-ups provided to children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. This data will help the department plan future interventions more effectively. Rakesh Shankar, Secretary of the Women and Child Development Department, has been entrusted with this new responsibility. He stated that a QR code-based pilot project will be launched to make the distribution of Take-Home Ration (THR) under the supplementary nutrition programme more transparent. With this project, it will be possible to digitally track the movement and quantity of ration from the state level down to Anganwadi centres.

“Kalpasar” Still Remains a Dream Even After 18 Years

The Kalpasar Project, considered the largest multipurpose project after the Sardar Sarovar Project to provide drinking water and irrigation benefits to the people of Saurashtra and central Gujarat, has still not moved beyond files even after 18 years. During this period, six Chief Ministers have changed and a dozen Chief Secretaries have retired, yet the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the scheme is still not ready. The project aims to stop the waters of several rivers that currently drain into the Gulf of Khambhat, create a freshwater reservoir and dam, and construct a 30-kilometre highway connecting Dahej and Ghogha. The project was approved in 2002 by the BJP government in Gujarat. At that time, the estimated cost was ₹25,000 crore, but due to prolonged delays, the cost is now expected to rise to nearly ₹1 lakh crore. The government still claims that the DPR of the Kalpasar project is in its final stage. So far, more than a dozen study reports have been prepared for the project, with around ₹250 crore already spent on them.