Mr 10 Per Cent
A commissioner has earned the endearing sobriquet ‘Mr 10 Per Percent’ in his own department. Someone visiting the department for any work has to pay 10 per cent of the total cost of any work to be done through the officer. The department has a big budget for procurement of various items. The headquarters allots funds to suppliers for procurement of various items for offices in the districts. So, the suppliers give 10 percent of total cost of those articles to Sahib for getting funds for offices in districts. The officer does not put his pen on any paper unless he gets a backhander. He has a few close aides through whom he gets the percentage-related work done. There are murmurs in the corridors of power that the officer’s agents actually run the department from behind the scenes. A few suppliers chuffed the minister of the department and put pressure on the officer to get some work done. Nevertheless, since Sahib has stopped the payment of some suppliers, they are doing the rounds of his office to get their bills cleared. As far as taking payola is concerned, those posted to this department as commissioners had not been different from its present boss.
Cautious bribees
Cautious bribees always find their way to make carrots out of every piece of paper, and two ‘promotee’ IAS officers are just doing that. Although the positions they hold are not very important, yet these posts have suddenly become significant. So, these Since some work is on in the department where they are working, they have begun to make influence-peddling. They have reportedly entered into a deal with some people and begun to take sweetener from them. There is, of course, a competition between the two officers in making money, and whenever they find an opportunity, they dip their hands into gravy. At a recent function, an ill feeling developed between the two officers and, of course, it was over taking bribes.
Indecisive officers
Work on an important board has stopped. Since most of the work the board does is related to legal cases, several important issues have gone haywire. Because two IAS officers posted in the office are known for their indecisiveness, many issues remain unresolved. It is heard that the most important person of the office forwards everything to other officials. Since he is about to retire, he does not want to get into trouble by settling those cases. Most of the issues coming to the board are so complicated, that Sahib keeps away from taking any decision on them. On the other hand, a principal secretary-rank officer, working with him, is no different and gives a wide berth to any dispute. This is the reason that many important cases are yet to be settled. Fed up with the indecisiveness of these two officers, many people, whose work got stuck up in the board, are waiting for their transfer from there.
Advance payment
A few contractors working for a department recently got the shock of their life. Just before the cabinet expansion, a piece of information spread among the contractors, that a newly appointed minister would get the department they had been associated with. No sooner had they come to know of it than some of them met the minister. A few of them even sweetened up the minister, and a few others did that to woo the minister’s cohorts. They hoped that, pleased with their services, the minister would quickly do their work, but he did not get the department he had set his eyes on. The minister did not get the wing he wanted, since he reportedly had his hands behind a scam there. Because the minister did not get the place of his choice, the contractors got nervous, for they had already greased the palms of the minister’s associates. Now, they are flustered not knowing whether they would get back the money they had given to the minister through his associates.
Money monger
The officials of a department are fed up with the demands of its minister who told the lower-rung officers to give him a certain amount of payola before the election. The minister has, however, failed to get anything done through the additional chief secretary, the secretary, the other officers of the department and through those posted in semi-government organisations. Now, the minister is mounting pressure on the lower-rung officers for money. An associate of the minister is calling up the officers in districts, asking them to arrange funds for the minister without any delay. The officers, posted in the district, recently gave “Transfer Tax” to the minister, but now, they are tuckered with the minister’s demand for more brass. A few officers have brought the issue to the notice of the higher-ups in the government. The top brass in the administration reportedly advised the lower-rung officers not to pay any heed to the minister’s demand for money. Despite this, the officers are flustered about it. About the minister, it is said that there is a CD against him. In trying to hide it from public view, he had to pay a huge amount of dough and, for this reason, he raised his demand for more carrots.
Wife’s ‘roko toko!’
The husband of a female officer is more worried about her not getting posting on deputation to Delhi than the officer herself is. The officer’s husband wants her to get posting in Delhi as early as possible, so that she may leave for the national capital. Sahib craves for getting rid of the bindings he is surrounded by. So, he is making all efforts for his wife’s posting through his clouts, because once madam is out of the state capital, Sahib will be free from her “roko toko.” Since there are many stories about Sahib and since he wants to live a jazzy life, he is worried about the delay in posting his wife to Delhi.
