Dilli Ka Babu
Fall guy
Maharashtra’s officialdom is unable to move on in the wake of the Adarsh Housing Society scandal, especially since the CBI upped the ante by arresting senior IAS officer Pradeep Vyas and naming another IAS officer, Jairaj Phatak, as accused in the scam.
The Maharashtra government immediately suspended both the babus.
While many believe that the bureaucrats’ role in the scam had to be probed, the state’s bureaucracy is upset over the suspensions of Mr Phatak and Mr Vyas, who are described as “upright and fine officers with an impeccable records”. There are fears that babus may be made to pay for decisions taken by others. Officials feel that a move like this will lead to administrative paralysis. Their concerns have been shared with chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad. But there the matter rests, so far.
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Coal comfort
After more than a year, Coal India has finally got a full-time chairman in S. Narsing Rao, a 1986 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre officer. And not a moment too soon, feel babu-watchers considering that the cash-rich PSU has been making all sorts of news in recent weeks. For one, a leaked report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on distribution of coal blocks indicts the company in a manner that spells another scandal of gigantic proportions. Second, the government has intervened by issuing a presidential directive, which forces Coal India to supply at least 80 per cent of the coal committed to power companies. This is likely to affect the PSU’s profitability.
Clearly, Mr Rao has his work cut out with these and other challenges. But observers feel Mr Rao, who takes up the job after running Singareni Collieries and after a stint with the UN, is up to the task.
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Duty & penalty
The relationship between Andhra Pradesh government and the bureaucracy has been rocky of late. With the CBI netting several IAS officers in various scams, the babus are upset with their political masters believing that they are being targeted while the politicians involved are not being investigated.
The situation is unlikely to change anytime soon. The recent out-of-turn transfer of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) additional director K. Srinivasa Reddy by chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has deepened the distrust between babus and the government (read netas). Apparently, the transfer (projected as a promotion) is intended to appease state Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana, who had received judicial notices from Mr Srinivasa Reddy in the liquor scam case. The babu, his colleagues feel, has been victimised for doing his duty. No doubt, we shall hear more on this in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned for updates.
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