Dilli Ka Babu
Toiling Babus
The devastating floods in Orissa have had at least one unfortunate fall-out for babus in the state. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, known to be soft on bureaucracy, has transformed into a rather tough taskmaster. Consequently, many babus spent the Durga Puja holidays in their offices, working on relief and rehabilitation for the millions of flood-affected. Apparently even Gandhi Jayanti, elsewhere a national holiday, was a regular working day for babudom.
Mr Patnaik does not want to give the Opposition an opportunity to attack his government on the post-flood situation; so officials are busy in meetings or visiting the flood-affected areas to supervise the relief work. Still, few are complaining, especially after Mr Patnaik announced a seven per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees, raising the total DA to 58 per cent.
***
CAG’s support
The public might believe that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is doing a splendid job by exposing corruption in high places, but a wounded government has been crying that the overzealous CAG has been going beyond its brief. According to sources, CAG Vinod Rai has, of late, been making efforts to muster support of senior secretaries.
Sources say that recently Mr Rai held a two-day closed-door session in Shimla with at least 10 senior secretary-rank officers to seek their endorsement for the CAG’s view that it can not only audit public expenditure but also government policy. Among the high-powered bureaucrats present were CVC Pradeep Kumar, expenditure secretary in the finance ministry Sumit Bose and secretary, personnel and training Alka Sirohi. It’s early days to predict whether Mr Rai will get the support he needs, but even if manages to get the babus behind him, rallying the netas, as we know, is not going to be easy.
***
Cadre tales
Though Chandigarh is a Union Territory (UT), the top hierarchy among bureaucrats has usually been shared by babus from Punjab or Haryana. That convention has now been upended, as UT cadre officers suddenly seem to be occupying all-important posts. The senior-most position in the UT administration is that of the UT adviser. K.K. Sharma, the current incumbent, is a UT cadre officer of the 1983 batch. He also happens to look after housing, personnel and the prestigious Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation. Interestingly, until recently the home secretary’s post was held by Ram Niwas, a Haryana officer, but after his repatriation, the official given temporary charge, Satya Pal, is from the UT cadre.
Apparently, the situation is no different in the police department, where, too, IPS officers from the UT cadre outnumber those from Punjab and Haryana. And expectedly, the UT cadre officers are, for once, not fretting.
Post new comment