‘Simple’ Didi vs Bollywood glamour

For three days — from November 22 to November 24 — Mayor Sovan Chatterjee was seen nowhere at Kolkata Municipal Corporation building. Various organisations were forced to postpone their functions in which Chatterjee was invited as the chief guest. The reason: He did not inform them beforehand that he would not be able to make it to the programmes. With the Mayor missing from the KMC headquarters,everyone got curious where he had gone. The only reply from KMC officials was that the Mayor was “out of station” but where they did not specify. It was not until the TV channels showed footage of the inauguration of the International Film Festival of India at Goa when it became clear that Chatterjee was camping at Panaji where her party’s chief Mamata Banerjee was the chief guest. But was Chatterjee also invited to IFFI? Well,nobody had any clue about it.

Not all well at Home front

There is a growing discontent among officials of state Home Department over the appointment of G D Gautama as their new boss seems. Many senior officials of the department see Gautama “as most inefficient person ever to head the office. Things took an ugly turn on Friday when Gautama called a joint secretary “lazy,who does not work” at a meeting where senior officials were present. Angered by Gautama’s rebuke,the joint secretary,who was earlier transferred to agriculture department but was persuaded by former home secretary Samar Ghosh to remain,shot back at Gautam and told him to release him from his department immediately. “He (Gautama) cannot take pressure and loses his cool easily. How can such a person tackle Home department,which is becoming hotter with each passing day with the approaching Assembly elections,” quipped a senior IAS officer.

Making babus pay!

The financial crisis plaguing the state government has also hit the owners of private cars that are hired by various departments to ferry bureaucrats. Last week,one such owner,who also drives his car,was seen outside the office of a principal secretary. On inquiry,it was found out the government owed him Rs 72,000,as his bills for the last three months have not not been cleared. “If I do not get the payment next month I will make this principal secretary come to office by bus or tram,” he said.

Buddha’s campus scare

A string of protests against Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during his visit to a few universities — Jadavpur University and Aliah University — has made the academic institutions wary of the security. The biggest concern being how to stop the students from ghreraoing the CM or showing black flags. To prevent repeat of any such incidents,the university authorities have decided to issue a limited number of invitation cards besides ensuring tight security. But as it happened at Aliah University,where students sneaked into the venue with black flags hidden in their pockets,and started waving them as soon Bhattacharjee came to the dias,the university authorities are unsure how they could stop the repeat of such incidents. “What can we do if students hide black flags in their pockets and sneak into the programme,” said Samsul Alam,Vice-Chancellor of Aliah University.