Surendra Nath Meena, the district magistrate of North Dinajpur, cycles incognito to get a first-hand experience of the people’s woes.
Sources said that Meena cycled 24 kilometers on Saturday from district headquarters Raiganj to reach Kaliaganj.
“It was around 9am on Saturday that a man in a navy blue tracksuit arrived at the busy Vivekananda More, the heart of Kaliaganj town, and started chatting with a group of daily-wage labourers,” said Mona Pal, an owner of a salon in the area.
The conversation carried on for some time.
Soon, local shopkeepers and other bystanders joined in, as topics ranged from traffic woes to grievances of roadside vendors and the lack of civic amenities. Pal also started chatting with the motley group, unaware of who the stranger was.
It was much later that Pal came to know that the person who had come cycling was the district magistrate.
“I had no idea he was the DM or else I would have shared more issues that we common people face with him,” said Mona.
Meena, a 2011 batch IAS officer, took charge of the district on September 22, 2023.
Sources said he had been quietly following this cycling routine for a while. It was only this time that he was “caught in the act".
Kartik Dey, a bank employee, saw Meena chatting with people. “At first, I thought he was a tourist or someone promoting something. But his face seemed familiar. I realised that he resembled the DM and dismissed the thought. Who would think of a DM cycling around so casually?” he said. "But many people like me thought the same, which is how his identity was confirmed."
The DM said he had come up with this plan to understand ground realities.
“A DM has to oversee numerous administrative initiatives and ensure government schemes reach the grassroots. While official mechanisms provide data, they often fail to reflect ground realities. Interacting directly with people — without the weight of my title — helps me better understand their struggles and concerns. That’s why I cycle incognito through different areas of my district,” said Meena.
The IAS officer, earlier posted as the DM of Alipurduar, had undertaken outreach initiatives there too.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, he went to remote places with healthcare workers to deliver vaccines to villages near the Bhutan border. His hands-on ways earned him respect,” said an official earlier posted in Alipurduar.
Meena said that he liked meeting people.
“Whenever time permits, I explore areas, often sitting at roadside tea stalls to chat with locals. It’s been a discreet practice. This was the first time my identity came to light,” said Meena.