Not a bureaucrat, a firebrand indeed

Sub- Collector of Devikulam from 1981 to 1983.

His initial posting was at Devikulam in the Idukki district as the sub collector, in the year 1981.

Alphons was in the news from his very beginning -be it the literacy program in Kottayam or the demolition of the unauthorized structures in New Delhi.

He invoked the criminal procedure code for the first time in the history of the State against a State Department. When his attempts to make a Public Work Department Engineer to repair a 5-Kilometer stretch of road failed and the material heaped there became a threat to life, Alphons issued orders for the recovery of the material. The additional cost for carrying out the work was recovered from the salary of the engineer using the power of District Magistrate. He always took an active interest in the grievances of the ordinary people.

Managing Director of Kerala Milk Marketing Federation (MILMA)

During his three-year term as the Managing Director of the KMMF Alphons tried to rejuvenate the sinking co-operative giant, which was incurring heavy loss on account of inefficient management and frequent strikes.

The utter callous nature of the management to attend to the grievances of the employees was the prime cause. He won over the confidence of the trade union leaders and gave independent charges to the managers, which really put an end to the occasional strikes and wastage of milk. It remained strike free during his three-year tenure.
He was instrumental in setting up five new cattle feed manufacturing plants and the turn over of MILMA was increased by 300%.

As the collector of Kottayam

As the collector of Kottayam, he made the district the first to achieve total literacy in India in 1989.

He also chalked out a family planning programme for the district, which saw the birthrate climb down to near zero. In addition to this, the district also achieved the lowest birth and infant mortality rates (below 10%) and its health index touched a level even higher than that of the USA.

Next came Operation Shelter, which envisaged massive rehabilitation of slum dwellers within 5-km radius of the town.

As commissioner of the Delhi Development Authority.

As the Commissioner of DDA, Alphons virtually went on a demolition spree and razed to ground several unauthorized structures, striking at the very heart of the unscrupulous builders.

He demolished 14,000 unauthorized structures. The results of this were not encouraging. It ranged from threats to professional backstabbing.