CN & Heard,’Creditable’

After a string of projects being stalled,not many were confident that the Metro Rail project would see the light of the day. A senior official of the Administration claimed that he was unsure of whether the project of such magnitude would ever start. But after the Detailed Project Report was submitted,it seemed that the project would be completed,he stated. The shadows of the past still seem to loom large on the bureaucracy of the city.

Faking it?

After the arrest of a man for job fraud in the guise of a journalist,the UT Police circulated a press release to media organisations that after the initial details of the case ended with a note saying that the police respected the media and ‘requested’ them not to compromise other’s safety by becoming ‘fake journalists’. Contrary to the humble request,on the question of the accused possessing a media accreditation card issued by the Department of Public Relations of the UT Administration,the police conveniently washed their hands off by saying that they were not responsible for verification of journalists.

Not-so-humble request

At a press conference held to release a survey report on consumer behaviour,the speakers were asked to keep to the topic and speak for ten minutes each. To the impatience of the convenor,one of the speakers took more than 25 minutes and completely digressed from the topic. The convenor finally got up from the panel,went to the podium as the speaker continued,turned the microphone towards him and reminded all the speakers of the time limit and the topic,much to the protest of the speaker and amusement of the audience.

Starting afresh

Tired of reading not-so-pleasant news items everyday in newspapers about different departments of the UT Administration,the officials are now contemplating patching up and starting afresh with media persons. To curb the negative publicity,the officials are mulling a single window system,where they will answer every query before a news item is published,so that no speculative stories are published. Perhaps,the officials have not heard that some fences can never be mended.

No ‘costly’ gifts please

Earlier this week,when the Haryana Police honoured state athletes during a function,Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda announced that the Haryana government would also award the medallists with a car at a function in Gohana. And players were quick to say,”We hope that it is a diesel car. Earlier,after the CWG and Asian games,we were given petrol cars. Owing to the hike in petrol price,we sold them,” said a Haryana player.

New star

During the felicitation ceremony of the London Olympians by the Haryana Police,it was not Vijender Singh,the poster boy of Indian boxing,but Yogeshwar Dutt who grabbed the spotlight. Being the lone silver medal winner among the seven Olympians present,Dutt surely was the cynosure of all eyes as police officers and politicians took pride in getting photographs clicked with the wrestler. The visibly tired Dutt,who is still nursing the bruise on his eyes,smiled and posed for photographs with his fans.

Confused?

A day after around 50 students complained against a student,Dharmendra Bishnoi of UIET,the Panjab University staff could not take any disciplinary action against him. Let alone any action,the disciplinary committee,set up to look into the matter was unable to decide whether it was a case of ‘ragging’. According to UIET director Renu Vig,“Only first year students are usually ragged,but the students who complained about being ragged are second year students”. Though she agreed that the behaviour of the accused was “bullyish towards other students”,she added that it might not necessarily be called ragging.

Resources unused

Panjab University developed a staff intranet portal after nearly four years of its initiation. This computerisation project was outsourced to a private firm,after floating a tender. Interestingly,the University found it necessary to spend Rs 62 lakh on outsourcing the project,even as there is one programmer in the computer cell and each department of the University. There are more than 70 departments in PU,which implies that there are about 70 programmers at the disposal of the University. Ironically,when asked as to why weren’t the University programmers used for the process,computer cell Director Tankeshwar Kumar said that they did not have enough staff for the operation.

Homework kiya?

At a press conference announcing the start of a bridal exposition at a city hotel,the guest of honour was a Bollywood actress riding high on the success of her gang flick that made it to an international film festival. A reporter from a national daily questioned her whether she had done enough ‘research’ for her character in the film. To this,came a curt reply,”I am sure you also researched before becoming a journalist?” Ouch.

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