An officer who believed in taking challenges head-on hangs up boots
CHANDIGARH: Punjab cadre Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Kahan Singh Pannu, known as a one-man army in bureaucratic circles, retired on Monday, after 31 years of service.
As the state’s agriculture secretary for the past three years, he led the department in taking on the challenge of keeping the burning of paddy stubble under check. Pannu started as a probationary officer in a nationalised bank and joined the government as deputy registrar cooperative department in 1989.
On being promoted as IAS in 2005, he set up the Punjab State Farmers Commission to guide agriculture policy in the state. He was the commission’s first member secretary. A native of Neelpur
village near Rajpura, Pannu is son of Akali leader Jaswant Singh. His farming background showed up in his work as also his love for the state’s peasantry.
As agriculture secretary, he managed to shift 12.5 lakh acre from paddy to basmati and cotton, and experimented with rain-gun technology for irrigating direct seeding rice (DSR). He introduced this variety this kharif season to tackle shortage of labour due to Covid-19 pandemic. Due to his efforts, traceability of seed potato fetched Punjab brand recognition.
“I plan to go back to my village and engage in farming,” said Pannu, driving back home from office on the last day.
He was instrumental in drafting a law that banned transplantation of rice before June 10 to save ground water. For Pannu, his stint as Amritsar DC that lasted for four years and a few months, starting 2007, remains something to cherish. Here, he introduced Panghura (cradle) scheme which has received about 200 abandoned children; the upgrade of the Amritsar airport; getting five lakh saplings planted and the introduction of e-rickshaws. For his work in the holy city, he was recommended for Padma Shri. He was chosen for prime minister’s award for excellence for his work for MGNERGA workers during lean months. Pannu had a brush with controversy, when in June 2013 he was assaulted by a group of stranded pilgrims from Punjab at Gobind Ghat in Uttarakhand.
He was leading a team of officers from Punjab to oversee rescue and evacuation of at least 5,000 pilgrims, who were trapped on way to Hemkunt Sahib shrine, after a cloud burst.
On his regrets, Pannu said, “When you take action against unscrupulous elements, they hit back. We were supposed to defend such attacks in our own personal capacity.” He also held additional charge of head of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s pet project Tandarust Mission and tightened the noose around food adulteratorss.