loo relief
When the time was tense for Uttarakhand passing through a grim crisis a redoubtable former Babu provided comic relief. Things happened a day ahead of the floor test when a close confidante of Chief Minister Harish Rawat visited the MlA house on being given errand by his mentor to herd all the party MlAs up to Mussoorie. The ex-Babu, who was enjoying himself, munching biscuits and sipping tea while heartily chatting with one of the Congress dissident MlAs in a room that belongs to a Congress MlA, got white-faced when he learnt about the visit of Harish Rawat’s chum. There were reasons. He had incurred Rawat’s wrath during the time the latter was thrown out of power. The former Babu was dubbed as a traitor, hobnobbing with the dissidents and BJP. The predicament of the Babu who had used to call the shots in the State’s Babudom till recently was such that he had to retreat into the loo along with the dissident. The wretched Babu had the misfortune to remain boxed there for close to one and half hour to avoid meeting Rawat’s trouble-shooter. However, the dissident, a chain-smoker, could not stay for more than 30 minutes desperate as he was for a bout of puff. When the MlA at whose house the comedy happened was about to depart along with Rawat’s crisis manager for Mussoorie he remembered the Babu remaining boxed in the washroom. He told the leader’s crisis manager that he would follow him to Mussoorie soon. When he reached Mussoorie the confidante of Rawat asked him why he could not come along with other MlAs the MlA disclosed that the former Babu had remained holed in the lavatory while he was there to help himself being on the safer side of Rawat’s infamous wrath. This reminds one of the game of Chess where players are inclined not to take king to the corner to ensure that they are safe in the game. The ex-Babu was not definitely aware of this. Otherwise, he would have faced the fire head-on.
Plight of DMC
Doon Medical College which came up at the initiative of the former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and which was well taken care of by the incumbent chief minister Harish Rawat is meant to serve the people of Uttarakhand. However, the premier medical institution has failed to rise to the occasion for many reasons, the principal one being the acute doctor crunch. The CMs in succession have been releasing money benevolently from the discretionary funds on the count of medical facilities in the State. Other hospitals and nursing homes in the city used the funds fully and kept on expanding fast. Around this time, Bahuguna conceived DMC, thinking that the government-run giant hospital would cater to most of the medical needs of the common people. However, DMC seems to be limping its way on. To impart specialization courses from this educational year, the state health department recruited super specialists like Professor, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Senior Resident (SR) and Junior Resident (JR). Even the Medical Council of India (MCI) has given letter of permission to it to start enrolling MBBS students from 2016-17 academic year. But the members of the faculty are storming out in a huff as they are not receiving salary since March 2016. The exodus of the faculty is normal these days, given the fact that the specialists, inclined for greener pastures, are being promptly absorbed elsewhere with much fatter pay packets. To the woe of the people, needing medical care, things are vegetating in DMC.