Delhi underground

Technologically challenged
Hours after the state health department decided to initiate an e-tendering process for hospital goods,the Principal Health Secretary had to roll back the orders. The reason? Technophobic contractors had ‘gheraoed’ the office of Dr Amit Banerjee,Medical Superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital and threatened to torch everything on the premises. The state government swiftly rolled back the orders and decided to open tenders the old-fashioned way,at least for now.

And the music played on
Even as a man shouted for help after he strangulated his wife,poisoned his daughter and consumed poison himself,music was on full blast at his Mahipalpur home long after all three were declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. It is suspected that the man had set the volume of his music system to the maximum to muffle sounds of any possible resistance from his family. Neighbours took all three to hospital,but did not dare switch off the music for fear of “tampering with evidence” even two hours after the incident. A constable later went in and turned off the music at 5 am.

No respite from powercuts
It seems powercuts do not spare even the government power centres. The launch of a new website by the Ministry of Environment and Forests got delayed by a day as there was no power. Then,at the decisive launch moment at a press conference to announce the website,power to the entire Paryavaran Bhawan,which houses three different ministries,went off again. “Global warming!” shouted irate journalists. Perhaps the Ministry should swallow its own ideas and switch to non-conventional energy sources,at least for the energy-guzzling Paryavaran Bhawan?

Holiday heartburn
There was confusion that India’s national carrier would not fly for a couple of weeks following a strike by the carrier’s executive pilots last week,which ended October 1 with the PMO’s intervention. The news had caused heartburn for many government officials. For government employees,the strike could well have been a disaster as many had booked their family vacations for the coming Diwali season with Air India. With the ongoing austerity drive and cost-cutting measures in view of the economic downturn,the government has issued a directive saying that LTC could be claimed only if one takes an Air India flight.

Thoughtful thief
A 23-year-old BBA student was robbed of her laptop by a “considerate” thief in Sarita Vihar recently. According to the student,she was taking a bath in her third- floor room when a thief got into her house and then locked her in. For good measure,the thief knocked on the door and told her to “continue taking her bath” while he stole her laptop,three mobile phones and Rs 1,000 from the room.

Wi-Fi joke
The New Delhi Municipal Council recently faced a unique problem that put the security of its Wi-Fi network in question. Sources said that one of the employees of the civic body allegedly created a fake profile of another senior member on one of the popular social networking sites. He then used the fake profile to send funny messages to other employees,stating they were “purely in jest.” Trouble started when employees discussed the same and realised that the profile was fake. Authorities have now issued a circular across departments asking all members to use the services of the Wi-Fi connection judiciously and for official purposes only.

Nailing a lie
In an effort to project the arrest of carjackers as a big catch,the Noida police listed the ‘big’ cars from thieves as ‘recovered’,which was far from true. A police officer even listed a luxury car that had nothing to do with the carjackers. A police officer confessed that many cars listed as ‘recovered’ were actually being traced by teams after their locations were disclosed by the arrested members of the gang.