Avoiding risk
Those who want a mask have to wear it, but a female Principal Secretary is skiving that off, by giving up her plans to shift to Delhi. But there were times when she rejoiced in the idea of shifting to the national capital. During her recent visit there, an officer told her that whenever she would arrive in Delhi, she would be entrusted with an important project which is close to the heart of the Prime Minister. She did not say anything at that time, though. Later, she told one of her batch mates that she did not want to run the risk of shifting to Delhi. She is not even applying for transfer. She says she will do so after the launch of that project. Abandoning her plans to shift to Delhi, she has started skirting around her official work. Besides, because of the possibilities of her being shifted to the national capital, she is all set to lose an important department in the state. An officer who will be given that work has also been selected.
Long Leave!
A Principal Secretary who is dealing with an important department is going abroad on a month’s vacation. The state election is around the corner, and the department that the officer is handling has to complete many work. Still, he is going on long leave. The officer is actually trying to shift to Delhi where his family lives. So, he lacks interest in work these days, and the higher authorities have also come to know of it. The Principal Secretary was brought to the department because of his experience in handling such work as that particular unit deals with. Owing to his loss of interest in work, he has incurred the wrath of the government. So, plans are afoot to remove him. Besides, an officer who has been elevated to the post of principal secretary and is working in the department may be asked to head it.
Exposed
Inefficiency of two collectors selected on the recommendations of a minister has recently come to light; and that, too, just before the visit of the Prime Minister to the state and in presence of the Chief Minister. These collectors had to make a power-point presentation about the respective districts they are in-charge of. But one of them did not know how to do that. So, when he began to do so, the Chief Minister said, “You will land me in trouble.” The inefficiency of the officer who became a collector on the recommendations of a minister caught the Chief Minister up short. The other officer who is close to the Chief Minister was no better. Besides, the way of his talking made the Chief Minister angry. The officer actually runs the district on the advice of the BJP leaders. Their inefficiency has kicked up a lot of hum in the state bureaucracy. At a recently held meeting, an officer was heard saying, that if a collector is appointed on recommendations, expecting anything better would be a far cry from what one has already seen.
Berth pangs
The appointment of an Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister’s secretariat has upset another officer of the same rank who is posted there. So disturbed he is, that he has fallen ill. Down with heart ailments, the officer, after being discharged from the hospital, is at home these days. Actually, the number of OSDs in the Chief Minister’s secretariat has gone up, so this retired IAS officer feels he might lose his job. He has been living under that impression since the arrival of the new incumbent to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). But the yarn has still a spin. Now, another officer, after his retirement in June, plans to join the CMO because of his closeness to the head of the state. The ailing Sahib is worried about that, too. Though it is difficult to enter the CMO, once one is in, one is there to stay. This officer wants to leave the CMO to become Information Commissioner, and a BJP leader in the state capital is lobbying for him, but there are many names on the list.
Happy
The appointment of Kamal Nath as the state Congress president, though he has not been projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, has delighted many bureaucrats. And two of them are particularly happy. One of them is in contact with Nath, and so overjoyed he is that, he feels the summit is within his reach. Besides, the development in the Congress has raised his value in the eyes of his colleagues, and some senior officers who used to ignore him have begun to give him importance now. Nath’s appointment has also delighted a principal secretary who is on an important post so much so that he has started thinking: in case the present government should be voted out, many important things would be in his hands.
Tension
Hostility between a female IAS officer and a minister is brewing. All that began when the minister had asked her to do some work and the officer passed it up by showing the rule book. But the man whose work the minister had to do got it done directly through the officer. He not only got the work done, but also informed the minister about how he made that happen. No doubt, that left the minister fuming; and he is making all efforts to shift the officer from his department. Since the officer is not keen on staying in that place, she is savouring in the minister’s attempts to remove her. The minister is not letting her off the hook and is raising objections to the proposals being sent by her as well. The trouble is that the staff in this department is in a cleft stick because of the fight.
