IAS officer of the 2016 batch ( Kerala cadre), Dr. Vinay Goyal’s achievements are not only limited to his work during Covid-19. In the second part of his exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he talked about facing the worst floods in Kerala, maintaining law and order in the Sabarimala shrine, and his time with the ‘Shehenshah of Bollywood’, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.
ON THE HOT SEAT
On 10th October 2017, the famous game show `Kaun Banega Crorepati’, hosted by the legendary Amitabh Bachchan telecasted its 32nd episode of season 9 which featured Mr. Goyal. Doing so, he became the first IAS officer to take part in this show.
“I had been trying for the show since I was a kid while watching KBC Junior. I tried around 4 to 5 times, and somehow I got lucky and got selected for the ‘fastest fingers first’ round. Spending quality time with Mr. Bachchan is something that I will cherish my entire life” he said gushingly
Mr. Goyal won Rs.12.50 lakh from the show, and this prize money he spent on the education of economically weak students.
FACING THE WORST FLOODS IN HISTORY
In 2018, after receiving academic training from Thrissur, Mr. Goyal received his first independent posting as the Sub-Collector of Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, when the worst floods in centuries hit the place. It spared neither life nor property. Mr. Goyal immediately got involved in the rehabilitation work in the district, as the region was more or less devastated. He was deputed from his post of Assistant Secretary in cultural ministry to the Kerala house, New Delhi where he was seeing the movement of all the relief material that was being sent, via trains and flights.
“We worked continuously for 10 days and nights, and as soon as I was sent to Thiruvalla, I started with the rehabilitation work of reconstructing all the houses which were damaged in the floods. All the pending work had to be finished quickly before the next monsoon struck,” he recalled.
Mr. Goyal formed a team and set out to work. He came up with the idea of giving two kinds of compensations for loss. “Government could build their houses for them, or they could take the money from the government and build their houses by themselves, in whatever way they were comfortable in,” he told Indian Masterminds. The swift work by Mr. Goyal and his team was also appreciated by the Chief Minister.
They were one of the first districts to implement the Incident Response System (IRS) based disaster preparedness plan. Mock drills were conducted at all talukas with the participation of all departments and especially panchayats and local youth clubs. “This was felt necessary after the 2018 great floods. As a result of our mock drills we were able to manage the floods of 2019 and 2020 very effectively without a single casualty” says Mr. Goyal
FIRST RESPONDERS TRAINING PROGRAM
It was initiated in Thiruvalla with the help of medical and pharmacy colleges. Under this, training regarding dos and don’t in case of a roadside accident was imparted to line departments like police and MVD. Auto unions, truck unions, highway shop owners, and local youth were also involved in the training.
“Also we initiated one Basic Life Support training program including Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation for school and college students of Thiruvalla and for my revenue staff. Thiruvalla is like an educational hub as there are so many colleges. We took the help of all the medical colleges there and launched this program. It was a big success and we were able to train a large number of youth in simple life-saving procedures like CPR”, he recalled.
CONTROL ROOM FOR SABARIMALA SHRINE
In 2018, when Sabarimala temple in Kerala faced disturbances, its law and order came under the SDM of the region, Mr. Goyal, who was also the nodal officer-in-charge of emergency operations. Sabarimala pilgrimage is about two months long, starting from mid-October to end-January. Around 14 th January, around 1 lakh pilgrims gather on the top of the shrine for a festival, to see ‘Divya Jyoti.’
“We needed to make sure that it went on smoothly, without any stampede or issues, and to ensure that we opened a control room, under my charge, to coordinate with all the departments, such as the police, fire team, medical team, etc. We operated three emergency centers and the entire ‘darshan’ and other ceremonies went really smooth” stated Mr. Goyal.
BRIGHTENING THE FUTURE OF ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD CHILDREN
Mr. Goyal has a soft corner for little children who, because of their economic conditions, are deprived of their right to education. He believes that each and every child should get a chance to study, no matter what because only then will they be able to brighten up their future. He even donated part of his money that he won from KBC for the betterment of such children.
“I am planning to develop a kind of system, maybe through online platforms, where we could prepare these kids for the future. I have like-minded friends who wish to support me in this initiative. This is one area, apart from my work, where I would like to bring a positive impact on the society” he said.
CHEVENING SCHOLARSHIP
Mr. Goyal brought laurels to the nation when he received the extremely prestigious ‘Chevening Scholarship’ which is a fully-funded scholarship provided by the U.K. Government. Through the scholarship, Mr. Goyal will be going to the London School of Economics to pursue his Master’s in Public Health. He got the scholarship for pursuing Masters in Public health Policy jointly from LSE and London School of hygiene and tropical medicine. London School of hygiene and tropical medicine is the 3rd best in the world and the first in Europe in public health after Harvard and John Hopkins.
Public health is my area of interest. Also, naturally being a doctor I’m more inclined towards Public health. More often during my tenure in IAS, I have come across public health issues many times.
Very few scholars are selected every year for the scholarship and Mr. Goyal happens to be one amongst them!
