Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh):

Out of hit list

A very important officer, a Principal Secretary (PS), working for the government, is out of the Congress’s hit list that the party is preparing to know who will be on which side after the election. The Congress is talking about such officers as are ready to do anything for the ruling party.  The names of a few such officers cropped up during a natter in the presence of a senior leader of the party.  Nevertheless, the PS has been kept out of the hit list. Those present during the blether showed their soft corner to the PS about whom it was said that the poor fellow was simply following the government’s orders. Instead of this officer, the Congress is targeting another department’s PS whom it accused of carrying out the RSS agenda. Nevertheless, there are chin-wags in the corridors of power that a senior Congress leader has asked the party men to target the BJP leaders instead of the bureaucrats.

Mystery of posting

The collector, whom the Chief Minister had removed during his trip to a district on the charges of corruption, has been given the responsibility of a department handling an important project. When the CM was in the district, he received complaints from the local BJP leaders as well as from the common man against the collector.  Immediately after receiving the complaints, an angry CM shunted out the collector who had been in the loop line for some time. Nonetheless, the collector has returned to the mainstream administration. The department the officer is dealing with is very important for the state government as well as for the Centre. There are murmurs that this Sahib will spare no effort to lay his hands on carrots, because the department is carrying out an important project.  It, however, remains a mystery how this officer has been given such an important position after his unceremonious removal from the collectorship of a district.

Waiting for NOC

The government has begun to issue no-objection certificates (NOC) to those wishing to go to the Centre on deputation. But a woman principal secretary (PS) is unable to understand the reasons for not considering her request. When the PS applied for deputation two and half years ago, she was told not to leave the state, so she did not pursue her plan to go to the Centre. The PS has again pled for deputation, but this time also the government has kept away from considering her submission.  Those who pled for deputation after her were given NOC. But the government seems reluctant to let her go to the Centre. The PS, however, does not know the reason for not getting an NOC. Since her family lives in Delhi, the PS wants to go there. After three principal secretaries have been given permission to go to the Centre, the woman PS is waiting for her term to get it.

Putting a spanner

A senior politician wanted to give funds to the party to show his importance to the central leadership. The politician held a meeting with his supporters and ministers.  Afterwards, a minister holding an important department discussed the issue with the politician. The minister assured the latter that he would collect funds through contractors. The minister interacted with one of the powerful contractors who had to get some work done through the department headed by the minister, so he was ready to part with the amount of dough sought from him. The minister asked the principal secretary of the department to do the work, but the bureaucrat put a spanner in the contractor’s plans. Instead of doing the work, the PS told the officials of the department to go by the rule book before doing anything. Now, the minister is in trouble. On the one hand, the minister assured his boss of arranging for funds, but on the other hand, the PS got in his way. According to a few chin-waggers, some powerful people are angry with the politician’s fund-collection attempts. 

Lure of lucre 

A secretary-rank IAS officer, looking after the work of the head of an important department, has dipped his both hands into gravy. He has made a lot of dosh through backhanders in the past few months. Although this Sahib is in an important department for some time, yet he has been unable to make devious dealings because of the additional chief secretary (ACS). Once the ACS left the department, the officer seems to have had a free hand to make rolls. The commissioner seems to have cast a spell on the principal secretary (PS) of the department, since she approves all the papers that the secretary-rank officer puts up before her. Because the PS barely takes any interest in work, the commissioner is actually running the department. Sahib has recently entered into a big deal and took a lot of money.  The suppliers of the department, whose underhand dealings were stopped by the ACS, are also very pleased with this Sahib. 

Waiting for polls 

Two principal secretary (PS)-rank officers are eagerly waiting for the election, because they feel their halcyon days will return only after the polls. Since their bosses were angry with them, both the officers were removed from the important departments each of them was handling and sent to the loop line.  One of the principal secretaries was considered to be close to his boss who also counted on the PS, but when a case broke the surface, he was removed from the important department. Since all efforts of the PS to please his boss fell through, he is waiting for the election that he may return to the mainstream administration after three months. Likewise, another PS was sent to the loop line for failing to give results. Sahib also tried to return to the mainstream administration, but his efforts did not yield any results, so he is also waiting for the election. Accordingly, both have begun to lobby from now for posting after the election.