New assembly building

Ironically enough, at a time when the roadblocks for the construction of the third Vidhan Sabha building near Raipur in Dehradun are being removed with the State administration’s decision to acquire more land, the construction of new blocks in the existing Assembly building in Dehradun is going on in full swing.  The people of Uttarakhand should take pride in the fact that their tiny State would soon become the only one in the country with the luxury of having three Assembly buildings. Pertinently, the approval for the construction of the Vidhan Sabha and its secretariat in Raipur has already been given and the State government is planning to construct a majestic Assembly building in the sprawling 60 acres of land at the cost of Rs 470 crore.  It is another matter that the lawmakers of the Himalayan State have shown a clear apathy to discharge their duties, manifested in the fact of less than 10 sittings of the State Assembly being held in a year.

Rollicking Rawats

The love-hate relationship between former CM Harish Rawat and Harak Singh Rawat continues to enthral people in the Himalayan state.  Maverick Harak did a’ la Jai for his friend Viru in the blockbuster movie Sholay, when in an apparent attempt to show his brotherly love and respect to elder brother ( Harish), he ended up rubbing salts on his wound. In an interaction with the journalists recently, Harak wished that his elder brother should live long enough to find a place in Guinness book of world records but went on to list a series of electoral losses his brother has suffered in the last ten years, even mentioning the margins of his defeats. He then hastened to add that aside from these electoral losses, Harish is still the most recognised leader across Uttarakhand. The recent notices sent by a CBI court in the eight year old infamous sting CD case appears to have brought the two Rawats fighting it out for Congress party's ticket from Haridwar Lok Sabha seat closer to one another. One may wonder what the Jai style praises lavished by Harak would do to the existing chemistry between the two stalwarts of the Congress party.

Mishra Magic

The furore generated in the social media over the appointment of the controversial officer Mrityunjay Mishra as OSD in the Ayurveda and Yunani department forced the State administration to do a somersault on the issue. The entire episode has, however, deprived the department from the services of a highly efficient officer. Mishra, originally an officer of the higher education department, has always remained successful in getting plush assignments in his career thanks to his machinations and uncanny powers to impress the politicians and the babus who are calling the shots. In his chequered career, the officer has succeeded in riding out many a storm such as allegations of financial and other irregularities and inquiries, culminating in his arrest when Trivendra Singh Rawat was the chief minister of the State.  After getting released from the jail, the efficient officer again displayed his Machiavellian cunning by regaining the post of the Registrar of the Uttarakhand Ayurveda University. When the VC of the University blocked his way, he managed to sneak into the Ayurveda and Yunani department as OSD. His fame, however, has proved to be his undoing this time, but given his track record, one may predict that the wily officer would bide his time before staging  another comeback.