The first thing striking about Vinod Duggal, the pointsman for Uttarakhand relief, is that he doesn’t look his soon-to-be-69 years.

In fact, Duggal manages to look nearly the same as he did 20 years back when we were introduced in the lift of Ashoka Hotel by his then boss, Yogesh Chandra.

Since then, as we spent some time at World Travel and Tourism Council pow-wows, and Duggal moved from tourism to water resources and home, I noticed how laconic he remained, unlike other ageing bureaucrats.

Also, his look and hairstyle continue to give him a touch of Adonis.

Add affability and willingness to help his friends, many made during four years as commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and the man sits on the A-list of many tribes in Delhi.

For the gin drinkers, he’s the guy you could turn to for anything, for he has never really retired.

For journalists, Duggal has been someone who’ll never fail to stop by and say, “hi.”

Ditto for the UPA.

Union home secretary between 2005 and April 1, 2007, Duggal hardly had three weeks without ‘laal batti,’ when accepting the demands of the states for a review of Centre-state relations, Manmohan Singh got himself a panel headed by former chief justice of India, MM Punchhi, with our man as a member.

Punchhi and Duggal took an additional year beyond the prescribed deadline of two years, reviewing existing arrangements between the union and the states, powers and functions of legislative relations, the role of governors, emergency provisions, financial relations and the sharing of resources.

And even before their first report was released on March 31, 2010, Andhra Pradesh was boiling.

It had to be Duggal to be the member-secretary of what came to be described as the ‘Sri Krishna Commission.’

The report came out in December 2010 with a secret chapter, rumoured to be beyond the terms and conditions assigned to this committee.
The chapter, supposedly authored by Duggal, is believed to have recommended ways to weaken the Telangana movement. The Wikipedia entry in his name credits him with ideas like media management, sensitizing Congress leaders who are pro-Telangana, weakening the leaders and parties who are active in Telangana agitation, booking cases on Osmania University students, and even recommending the type of bullets to be used to fire at agitating students.” “

There were also an alleged collusion with Seemandhra politicians to give false report on Telangana, due to Duggal apparently attending the private parties hosted by Seeemandhra politicians even during the process of writing report on Telangana.

With Telangana far from settled, and nearly four years since his official superannuation, Duggal finally got a few months to improve his golfing handicap.
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Not for long, though

Within early 2011, the need was felt to review the entire gamut of national security as the Kargil review committee needed a relook.
The responsibility to chair this review fell upon former governor, ambassador and cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra. His team comprised the former defence chiefs,  top sleuths, strategic thinkers, economists, mandarins, scientists and policemen. But what’s a list without Duggal.
In fact, the 1968-batch Union Territories cadre officer was the only one, besides the chairman, who came from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Not surprisingly, only he and Chandra abstained from participating in the sensitive dialogue on restructuring the relationship defence ministry (read babus) and the services headquarters. 

As a collateral, many saw Duggal’s imprint in what Chandra finally recommended on August 8, 2012.

While the report remains under the wraps till date, Chandra insisting that he and all other members refuse to speak about it, on June 20, 2012, Duggal was made a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) this time with the rank of minister of state (MoS) for a period of five years.

It’s time now for Uttarakhand

Here, Duggal finds himself in as the flagbearer of the NDMA, one hell of a top-heavy dinosaur that has no less than the prime minister as the chairman, and a curious dispensation where an Andhra Pradesh MLA, M. Shashidhar Reddy, is the vice-chairman, enjoying the rank of cabinet minister, and eight members, including Duggal, in the rank of MoS.

Now, NDMA is perceived to have achieved precious little since 2005, even though former army chief NC Vij was the first vice chairman before Reddy.

Duggal’s reputation of marshalling multi-disciplinary forces, not to mention his ‘fauji’ background as an emergency commission inductee, has led him to the job of nodal officer for Uttarakhand relief.

“He has enormous energy and drive and is the ideal person since he is already a member of NDMA and a former home secretary,” says Manoj Joshi, distinguished fellow, Observor Research Foundation, who served with Duggal on the Naresh Chandra committee.
Even for superman, this is a Himalayan task. But if done well, it is the only way NDMA (and 10-Janpath) can regain some glory. Over to the man with a touch of Midas.