Pulling hotel out of hat
With the State staring at a grim financial crisis and the clearance of the State Government employees’ salaries after July hanging fire, a State Minister has, as it were, pulled a rabbit out of his hat. The thing is that he has bought a hotel for himself that is worth around `200 crore. As per the declaration he submitted to the Election Commission, his assets are worth `10-15 crore. The acolytes of the Minister say that there was no magic involved in the deal. The hotel incurring spiraling losses over the years, the owner had sold it at throw- away price. However, one wonders how much low the price could be. It is clear that the Minister is desperately making hay when the sun shines. Nobody knows what would happen to the state after the elections 2017. The Minister is not, however, the only worthy from the ruling party wallowing in wealth. There are many of his ilk, squeezing the regime to the fullest possible extent to raise lucre. The story of the Government’s anti -corruption wings nabbing puny mortals for taking ‘paltry’ bribes of `3,000 or `5,000 or `10,000 or even `20,000 courts applause. But they have not the spunk even to look right at those who are bleeding the State white. What happened recently is interesting. The anti-corruption wing had nabbed a ruling party MlA. But once the news was flashed in the media they folded up things with alacrity and stopped short of arresting the heavy weight accused.
Holy war over collar
The Ministers are a poor lot. Being honesty incarnate, they-at least most of them-are fully satisfied with whatever they are drawing from the State Government in lieu of the hard toil they are giving to the State. That is the reason why they cannot afford to spend a few thousand bucks to buy medical implements for them. Nobody denies that the hard toiling Ministers, dreaming development days in and days out, must be helped to remain fit to serve the blessed state. Take for an instance a Minister who- down with neck pain- has approached the State health department to favour him with a neck support collar which costs around `5000 in the markets. However, the State health department has unfortunately stopped making local purchases (lP) for VIPs (politicians and bureaucrats), members of the Press fraternity and BPl card holders since 2014. But the Minister is not ready to listen to it. His annoyance is justified. If he remains afflicted with the pain in his neck how can he serve the state to the best of his abilityIJ He asked the health department to manage one for him anyhow. But the health department has its reasons not to heed. They say that such lP request should be sent to the Vidhan Sabha instead. For the Assembly has its separate budget that caters to the medical requirements of the lawmakers and the ministers. However, as things stand now, the Minister is determined to have things done through the health department. He is fully justified to wage the holy war for the interests of the State. Is he notIJ