Getting importance
A few months before the state election, an officer holding an important post has become very influential. There were times when other officers would give him the cold shoulder. But just after his appointment to the post, many officers have begun to queue up outside his office. The officers posted to districts often phone him to enquire about his healthiness. Before his posting to this department, a female bureaucrat was holding the charge, but many officers kept their distance from her.
On the contrary, every officer tries to maintain a good relation with him. The General Administration Department (GAD) has recently consulted this bureaucrat before transferring some officers. Many more transfers are in the offing. The officers in the GAD have begun to consult this bureaucrat, and he too has put up the names of some officers of his choice before the GAD. When the Sahib had been posted to some unimportant departments his colleagues avoided him. Initially, he was reluctant to join the department, but within a few days, he has become so important, that he has begun to enjoy his position.
Important posting
A Principal Secretary (PS) is using his office to the hilt. It is said this officer has put the government under pressure. He has got his wife posted to an organisation that comes under the department which he is in-charge of. The officer’s wife was working as a professor in a government college. She has been made the director of such a department from where she cannot be easily transferred. This department has an independent office, and madam has been provided with an official car, but there is no work in the office.
That is the problem. She goes to office daily, but since she has no work, she has to idle away her time. The PS who generally pays no attention to the department is thinking of getting some work for the department. The family members of this officer have links with the BJP as well as the Congress. He is sure that his wife will not be shifted from the department, even if the government changes after the election.
Censured
A principal secretary has incurred the wrath of many officers since a scam came to light. The people in the corridors of power do chinwag about the officer who has an image of being honest, though. Yet, the scam is related to a department where he has worked for long. People ask him where had he been when the graft was taking place in the department? The PS is afraid of the irregularities which he may not have been aware of.
Grapevine has it that, after the scam was open, several officers dressed him down. Besides, it is said about the officer, that he is not as honest as he appears to be, for there are cases of irregularity in the departments where he has already worked. Weighing up the problems that he faces, he is trying to shift to the Centre. For him, good days in the state have become a thing of the past.
On edge
As the days of retirement of an Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) are approaching his tension is growing. He made a post-retirement plan. Since a hindrance got into its way it fell through. He is lobbying for something else. Yet, nothing is going in his favour. About this officer, it is said, that he wants to do something to busy himself after retirement.
This sahib takes interest in spiritualism and wants to work in this field. The minister of the department is happy with the ACS and wants that the officer get a placement after retirement. Since he is close to a former chief minister, he is assured of a job, even as the government changes after the election.
Getting the cold shoulder
A female bureaucrat who has held important positions is getting her fingers burned by joining politics after retirement. She thought entering politics would boost her prestige. Instead, she is getting the cold shoulder from the people around. Though she visits the PCC office the leaders who are in the party for years just ignore her. She moves from one place to another, and then leaves the office.
Besides, the work assigned to her by the party is not very important. Apart from that, the importance of the leader who has introduced her to the party is waning. Another leader close to her is so busy with the party work, that he does not find time to discuss political issues with her. She does not represent any constituency from where she can contest an election. It comes as no surprise that she is feeling like a fish out of water.
Ruling the roost
In a government department, the orders issued by the minister do not carry any weight nor do the ones by the officers. A vice-chancellor runs the department where his is the last word. He often says he has been running the department for five years. Besides, he makes no bones about the fact that he has been behind the transfer of two Principal Secretaries from the department.
It is said that he has had his hand in shifting another PS. The complaints sent against the VC have been cast aside. He rules over the officers, for he has the blessings of RSS bosses. Many officers get their back up. Yet, they know there is no point griping about it.
