deobhoomidiary

Down but not out

Chief Minister Harish Rawat, though smarting under the liquor scam video’s negative impact, is down, but not yet  out. The battled-hardened leader is trying his best to  retain his ex personal secretary  Mohammad Shahid under his thumb despite DoPT (department of Personnel and Training) having written to the  state government  to release him so that he, originally  from Gujarat cadre,  could be  sent back to previous posting i.e. union government. CM is sitting  on  the  order  as he appealed to DoPT to allow him to stay put in Uttarakhand for the  sake of the ongoing investigation. The wily IAS applied for one month’s El to be spared the heat. Things  might have gone this way but for  DoPT having  stepped  in with its order. The state chief  secretary threw up his hands, saying that he  could not have done anything to  negate the DoPT order.  But  the craftiness of the Chief  Minister  has come  into full focus after he  used to probe card to stall the deportation of his former blue-eyed boy to Gujarat.  Things are still mired in murkiness with DoPT keeping a  stony silence on the  CM’s  appeal. But  the  observers  feel that the die is cast for the state government once  the Central department  issued the order. There  is hardly any  room of maneuverability for the CM, they say.  However, if he succeeds it would help him to keep other IASs who are wilting  under  tremendous pressure in the aftermath of the video scam tethered to him.  And if he fails it would spell  serious trouble for him for the remainder  of his term  as well as  for  the media. CM would suffer because the Babus  would  no longer dance to his tunes and media would suffer because the otherwise garrulous Babus  would  be  perforce tight-lipped  with the  plight of Shahid hanging over their  scared  heads.      

Honesty and ‘Extra’

The axiom runs-honesty is the best policy. But setting too much store by it may  spell trouble for one, particularly  around  this time, when earning  ‘extra’ has become part of the game. An officer known for his impeccable honesty who was recently promoted is now a worried man. On promotion, he was   allotted a separate room in the secretariat.  But to his woe, the service of the two   fourth class staff- something he is entitled to- is proving elusive for him. One of them slipped out of his office, citing an excuse, making him wonder what had happened. He was sure he had not done anything that could have prodded the staff to leave him that way. He, however, let him go, taking things in his stride. But wrinkles of worry deepened on his brows after the second one showed signs of following suit. Desperate to unravel the mystery, he asked him straight away why they were reluctant to work with him. Making  no bones about what  is nudging them to  go  elsewhere, the staff said this  is the first  time in his  service, running into several years, that he is unable to earn even chai pani (tea) expense, not to speak of the fabulous ‘extra’  which used to come his way previously rather effortlessly. The confession left the honest officer dumb-founded. Notably, the secretariat has been outsourcing the fourth class staff.  They are generally taken from PRD or from amongst the home guards. Each of them is paid Rs 10,500 per month, an amount that proves pathetically insufficient for the ‘hapless’ fourth class staff, given the spiraling inflation.