Babu’s ego and directory
Queer though it may sound, the gigantic ego of a very senior bureaucrat is deferring the publication of the telephone directory annually published by State Information Department. The incredibly egotistic Babu put a condition that his name must come up first in terms of superiority among his peer group or else... The Babu being a redoubtable Babu with long stint in the judiciary naturally inspires awe. Despite the State Information Department being under the direct control of the Chief Minister, things remained deadlocked for several months. However, to thaw the ice while keeping themselves safe from the Babu’s wrath, the department officials forked the matter into the court of the chief secretary N Ravishankar. left with no option but to act being the number one in the state’s bureaucracy, he constituted a two- member committee to find out an amicable solution of this long-continuing, ego-spawned standoff. The crux of the strange story is that the subscribers are at the receiving end of the Babu’s stupendous ego keeping things indefinitely hang in fire.
Incredible credibility
The credibility of a PCS officer, currently posted in Haldwani, is so astonishingly high that at least two state ministers are desperately lobbying for his posting in posts they prize as important. One of such ministers is so desperate to have the officer under his thumb that he is sending his close aides to the personnel department officials to make sure that the minister’s wish is fulfilled and he is appointed as a city magistrate under his constituency. On the other hand, another minister is ready to go to any length to have him appointed as a Mela officer for the upcoming Ardh Kumbh Mela slated to begin in Haridwar in January next. The instances of ministers grumbling to the Chief Minister against un-pliable officials who dare take the ministers with chaff are many. However, such focused jockeying for a particular officer by more than two ministers at the same time is something rare. The officers who are seasoned to tackle the mercurial ministers’ stubborn whims wonder whether the particular officer’s suppleness to bend over backwards to homour the ministers or his competence to serve the people at large have made him the veritable cynosure in the eyes of the weather-beaten ministers.