Candid Notes

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Candid Notes

Friday, 24 January 2020 | Gajendra Singh Negi

Cover up

Eager to improve ranking of the provisional state capital Dehradun in the ongoing Swachh Survekshan 2020- the city got a dismal but deserving 384th position in the sanitation rankings of cities last year- the overzealous officials of Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) are engaged in a massive cover up exercise to hide the perpetually dirty places of the city. In this endeavour, the MCD has erected green sheets along the major roads around unauthorised garbage disposal sites to obstruct the view of the survey team which is supposed to land in the city soon. The smart Babus of the corporation have also come up with an ingenious way of covering their inefficiency by setting up strategically placed billboards along the river bridges in the city. These publicity materials are serving the purpose of hiding the river banks which have become dark underbellies of the city. The myopic planners have converted these once perennial rivers with clean water into garbage choked drains carrying the filth of the city. Travelling over the busy Rispana Bridge on Haridwar road, the eyesore of the illegal taxi stand right on the river bed is not visible these days thanks to the hoardings asking people to give positive feedback on sanitation ranking. Keep your fingers crossed for this year’s ranking.

Fighting fit

Chief Minister TSR surprised everyone with his physical fitness and agility during a badminton match in Dehradun recently. Teaming up with the DG police, law and order, Ashok Kumar, the CM notched up victories over his rivals in two back to back matches. One can understand the psychological condition and innate fear of the lesser mortals taking on the duo of CM and DG of police even in a friendly contest but those who had witnessed the encounters were all praise for athleticism shown by the CM in these matches. TSR has remained a fitness freak during his entire political career taking out time for an adipose tissue burning early morning jog or sweating it out on a badminton court. On the political front also the CM is having a very good time with firm control over things. He is blessed with a situation where there is no one who can be termed as his potential challenger as of now. With Uttarakhand slated to go for assembly elections two years from now, it would be interesting to observe his manoeuvres on the political field.

Stressed secretaries

Hassled by the overbearing attitude, undue demands and brusque behaviour of the other half of a minister in the Himalayan state, the Babus deputed as personal secretary of the minister prefer to call it quits rather than continuing with the plum assignment. It is learnt that as many as six PSs have left the job and sought refuge in other departments in last two and half years. The spouse has always created problems for the minister in the past with some issues finding space in newspapers and given ammunition to the opposition to attack the government. The most prominent of them being the kidney scam that rocked the assembly last year.

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