He is a Ramkrishna Mission and Presidency college alumni. He was as a journalist with Bengal’s most popular vernacular daily Anandabazar Patrika. His wife Sonali Chakravarty is the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. And he is the son-in-law of one of the most eminent Bengal poets, Nirendranath Chakravarty.
The man in the eye of the storm in West Bengal, Mr Alapan Bandyopadhyay has reputation of one of the most efficient officers in the state. So much that the Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee says , “He is an extremely experienced officer, who takes my call at 7 am and also at 10 pm. He is available for work 24 hours.” Even her most ardent detractor and bête noir, the leader of opposition in State Assembly, Mr Suvendu Adhikari testifies, “He is an efficient officer. He is not at fault. He was Transport Secretary when I was Transport Minister. He always did what he was asked to do.”
That is the quality a civil servant must have. He is known as an excellent taskmaster. Extremely well behaved with vast knowledge of various subjects, Bandyopadhyay was the blue-eyed boy of all the senior ministers during the Left Rule in Bengal for his hard work and dedication while handling various departments.
Close to all CMs
Former Chief Ministers Mr Jyoti Basu and Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee both used to like him for his innovative and new ideas for the welfare of the people mainly in rural Bengal. Mr Bandyopadhyay became one of the most trusted men of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee when he was the minister of information and culture affairs in 1987.
After Ms Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011, he once again earned praise for his hard work. He is known to never frown at whatever thrown at him. A 1987 batch IAS officer, Bandyopadhyay was the Additional Chief Secretary of the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises, and Textiles department before he was appointed in the Home and Information department in 2019 only to be elevated as Chief Secretary last year. A retired bureaucrat said Mr Bandyopadhyay is of amiable nature. “His loyalties have shifted smoothly from one political dispensation to another,” he said.
Brain Behind New Schemes
But, Mr Bandyopadhyay is credited with not only carrying out every work assigned to him by his political masters but also advising them on how to run the administration more efficiently. Besides the ace poll strategist Prashant Kishore, another person stated to be behind Trinamool Congress return to power. Several schemes like Duare Sarkar (Government at Your Doorstep) launched at the fag of her last tenure was his brainchild. These schemes ensured people’s anger against TMC government dissipated before the polls.
The Chief Minister trusts Mr Bandyopadhyay to such an extent that he heads almost all committees formed for relief and rehabilitation work in the past two years, from Covid-19 pandemic to cyclones Amphan and Yaas.
Mr Bandyopadhyay was the West Bengal Transport Secretary in 2015 when he was named interim State Election Commissioner after the incumbent Mr S R Upadhyay due to allegations of violence in the local body polls. And the polls were conducted smoothly thereafter.
Brilliant Student
Born on May 17, 1961 Mr Bandyopadhyay did his schooling at Ramakrishna Mission in Narendrapur in the South 24-Parganas district. He was a brilliant student but took humanities instead of science since his aim was civil services.
After his school, he studied Political Science at prestigious Presidency College. He did post-graduation from Calcutta University. He met Sonali Chakrabarty, daughter of the famous poet (Late) Nirendranath Chakrabarty during college and they married.
In 1983, Bandyopadhyay decided to pursue his career as a journalist and joined Ananda Bazar Patrika. At the same time he was also preparing for the civil services. He cleared the examination in 1987. During his 34 years of his bureaucratic journey he always followed the rule book while performing his duty at various posts and positions in Bengal.
Early Career
He served as the district magistrates of Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas districts. He was also the Commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). He was also in charge of several departments which included transport, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), commerce and industry, information and culture, and home as principal secretary.
He never worked in Delhi and authored a book ‘Amlar Mon’ (heart of civil servants) which was released in 2017. In his book, he described former Chief Secretary (during Jyoti Basu’s tenure) Rathin Sengupta (1955 batch IAS officer) as ‘Uttam Kumar’ of administration after independence. Bandyopadhyay is an avid reader and his love for Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi is known to all.
