From IIT-Delhi To Sugar Land City Council

'A large part of my effort will be solving issues for the whole of Sugar Land, all communities, all populations.'

Sanjay Singhal recently won the election to the Sugar Land City Council District 2 in Texas.

A suburb 45 minutes away from Houston was chosen by the councilman where he would grow old and die after having lived and worked all over the world.

After retiring early, the graduate of IIT-Delhi has turned his leadership towards serving Sugar Land and in representing all its residents -- Whites, desis, Chinese, and beyond.

Sanjay Singhal spoke to Rediff US Special Correspondent Abhijit J Masih about his commitment to making Sugar Land a better home for generations including a specific requisition for a cricket field.

Tell us about your professional life before you entered the fray for public service.

I'm a graduate from IIT-Delhi in electrical engineering. I was recruited by Schlumberger right away which is an oilfield service company with an operation in over 100 countries.

My first posting was in Egypt, then I was transferred to Turkey, India, France, Indonesia, then I was posted in the US in 2001, then I got transferred to India again and then to Vietnam, Iran, the UAE and then I got transferred to the US again.

I was vice president of the company. I retired from Schlumberger four years ago.

I did 33 years with them and since my retirement I have been working in the local community.

You've lived and worked across multiple countries -- what made you and your family choose Sugar Land, Texas as your permanent home?

The company headquarter was in Houston, so we had it in mind that we will at some stage settle in one place.

When we were moving in different countries our kids had to follow a particular education system and we chose the American education system because that was available in most of the places we lived, for the consistency.

After they finished their high school in different places they came to the US to study. They were here even before us.

So we decided to come here, get settled here. Houston is the energy capital, most of the big oil and gas companies are here and Sugar Land is a good suburb to live.

What inspired you to transition from a corporate career to public service?

After working 33 years in a corporate, where you run after profits and have to deliver results, I wanted to do something different. Financially with the pension and all I was set.

I retired early, when I was 55. I still had like 10, 15 years of good working capabilities left in me, so I started giving time to local organizations.

I was on the board of the local homeowners and that's when I got involved in lots of local issues in Sugar Land.

And in many of my dealings with the Sugar Land City Council, I felt that improvement is needed in terms of public engagement and transparency.

Hence, 6, 7 months ago I thought I could make a difference and decided to run.

Also, it so happened that both my kids, after finishing their education, they took up a job in Houston. They are living here so we felt Sugar Land will be my home for the long term.

This is where I will possibly grow old and die. So I thought I should contribute to the improvement of the city.

You talked about the gaps and the improvements needed in Sugar Land, what do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the community today that you want to address?

There are a couple of things. One is, of course, Sugar Land started as a suburb of Houston, and so it does not have many big businesses of its own.

Not many big employers are here so local job opportunity is something which we need to grow. Most of the people have to travel to Houston which is 45 minutes to one hour travel time.

One area we can work on is attracting some big employers in Sugarland. Once you have businesses here, they will take off some tax burden from the residential.

Currently 70% of our tax revenue comes from residential and 30% from business.

Ideally you need to have 50:50 because normally business require less services as compared to residential so in order to reduce the tax burden on residential people it's always good to have more business.

The other thing is to attract youngsters because as the population is aging in Sugar Land it is becoming more of a retired community which we don't want in the long term.

We want a mix of population to keep our schools being good and competitive.

So we want to have both job opportunity and I would say entertainment and evening options for youngsters.

That's something which I feel is missing and I need to work on it.

Third thing which I would say is possibly more transparency and community engagement.

Sugar Land seems to have a big desi population; even your nearest rival Nasir Hussain is of South Asian origin. Do you think that worked in your favor?

You are right. It has a large desi population. We sometimes jokingly say that Sugar Land is like Gurgaon. In terms of numbers though it's large, it's still a minority.

In my district there are 50% white, 15% Hindu, 20% Muslim so like 35 percent I would say South Asian and 15% Chinese.

So that is the kind of mix. It is much higher compared to other cities in the US so it does help.

In my race there were actually 5 candidates when we started. Nasir and I made it to the runoff which possibly shows that the influence of the South Asian community is higher.

How have your wife Ruchi and sons shaped your views on community?
Were they supportive when you left corporate life for public service?

I think they are happy that I'm actually settling in one place, developing root and giving back to the community.

I think my wife did not anticipate the amount of time that was needed in the campaign.

But they were all very supportive, especially my younger son Rishabh, who still lives with us because he's unmarried.

He was my campaign manager and also my social media handler.

He was helping me in all aspects -- door to door knocking to social media to video editing; you know how young people are good at technology.

You mentioned that the desi population is a sizable number. Are there any specific requests from the community that is on your things-to-do list?

I personally feel I got support across the community -- from Whites, desis and Chinese. I have promised to be counselor for all and work for the overall benefit of Sugar Land.

There are some issues which the desi people want -- like a cricket field in Sugar Land.

So that's something we can work on -- having a multi-purpose field where you can play cricket but also play other games like soccer etc.

My goal is to work on specific issues of my district, but a large part of my effort will be on solving issues for the whole of Sugar Land, all communities, all populations.

What family traditions or values from your Indian heritage do you keep alive in your home today?

As you know, we Indians are very hard working. I have applied that in whatever I do. I intend to do the same in my Sugar Land service. Otherwise, at home we're very traditional.

My family is vegetarian. I am also very much attached to India. I go to India every year. I do maintain connection to my roots.

I will work for the community here. There are different temples and organizations who have supported me a lot during the campaign so I will make sure that I support them.

Zooming out from the local city politics to the national level -- which party do you align with and why?

I'm truly very independent. There are some issues of the Republican Party which are aligned with and there are some issues with the Democratic Party which are aligned.

For example, on fiscal policies in terms of expenditure, I'm more conservative.

On immigration, I'm more conservative. I believe the rule of law should be applied.

On some other issues like gun laws, I am possibly more liberal. It should be controlled. Presently, I do not really plan on getting into national politics beyond Sugar Land.

But I also do recognize that at some stage if I want to go higher than the current position that I need to pick a side.

What I want to do for the next two or three years at least is to focus on my current assignment and make sure I deliver to the people.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff