Office farewells for retiring colleagues are usually occasions when pleasant anecdotes and the equivalent of sweet nothings are bandied about. But, when ML Tayal, an IAS officer of the 1976 batch and former Principal Secretary to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, retired last month, the gathering on the fourth floor of the Haryana Secretariat Building witnessed something unusual.
Tayal studied with Hooda and so is close to the Chief Minister. Naturally, the bureaucrats present began to spout praises. Then, a senior officer stood up and said something to the effect of, “Let’s stop sycophancy and put the record straight. Everybody knows Mr Tayal was not a sweet-tongued officer. He behaved like a Hitler. So we should analyse how an outgoing officer behaved and serve the state.”
This emboldened another officer who said, “Mr Tayal shames the IAS. He did not know even how to behave with colleagues. What is this to-do about his farewell?”
Seeing the atmosphere becoming charged, Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati intervened, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s now tea time.”
Madhya Pradesh’s iron man
Every successful Chief Minister has a coterie of bureaucrats that shores up the edifice of the state. Madhya Pradesh is no exception – it is run by a top bureaucrat, Mohammed Suleman. He is Secretary, PWD and Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Setu Nigam. He controls the Secretariat and all files move through him.
As expansion of roads is a priority for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Suleman is all the more vital; for the IAS officer of the 1985 batch is also a qualified engineer. So, whenever files do not move, those affected make a beeline not for the Chief Minister but for Suleman.
No ‘open house’ for Diwali
Jammu is not only the winter capital of Jammu & Kashmir, the city is also the home of the who’s who of the state. Being SSP of Jammu is not only a prestigious assignment but also a challenging job in a terrorism-wracked region. Everybody wants to cultivate the SSP, not just in the district but in the entire state. Basant Rath, the young police officer who is currently in the post, has developed a reputation for his frankness and honesty throughout the state.
This Diwali, everybody wanted to cosy up to one of the state’s most important policemen. But Rath was on his guard. He not only kept his mobile switched off but locked his house from the outside and instructed the police post not to allow any visitors.
Some people were left a bit bewildered at how this hard nut could be cracked.
Unassuming Ansari
When a bureaucrat turns politician, he realizes after attaining a certain stature that he can no longer mingle with his former colleagues and acquaintances as before. And, in terrorism-shadowed times, the changeover from bureaucrat to politician is felt all the more acutely. Security personnel and officialdom erect a rather visible cage.
However, Vice-President Hamid Ansari is proving an exception. A former IFS officer, he is far removed from today’s politicians who are afraid of meeting and mingling with all. He might live in the Vice-President’s residence but visits his old haunt, the India International Centre. He chats with people and sometimes reads in the library. Truly a people’s Veep.
