Count to 20

catching them young

AFTER Bombay High Court imposed a stringent ban on political hoardings in the city,corporators have been trying out innovative ways of public canvassing. Some have now turned to municipal schools. For instance,Bina Doshi,a BJP corporator from R-Central ward,comprising Borivali (West),handed over a fat wad of political campaign material to school teachers in her ward,asking them to distribute the leaflets among students,their parents and people in the locality. Some of these were even pinned on the class notice board alongside educational charts.

WIN SOME,LOSE SOME

A POSTING with Crime Branch after a long stint with the city police elicits some amusing reactions. An officer,who was recently transferred to the Crime Branch,was heard saying that he is enjoying the freedom from “small stuff” and the opportunity to focus only on serious crimes. “I have gained three kg since my transfer here,” he said. He was then asked about the officer who replaced him in his previous posting with the city police. “Oh,I heard he has lost three kg,” the officer quipped.

BACK TO THE BASICS

THE staff at chief secretary Jayant Kumar Banthia’s office have suddenly become studious,but not by choice. Banthia recently directed that copies of all important state and Centre Acts be kept for ready reference and asked his senior level staff to pore over them all. Copies of over 20 such Acts are now neatly stacked in a corner of the office. He has also directed them to not clear any files without properly going through the contents. An official who was recently transferred to the post said in his earlier assignments,he would clear a bunch of files within five minutes. “The same number of files take five hours to get cleared now as (Banthia) sir can ask me anything,anytime,from any of the files cleared by me,” the official said.

MESSAGE IN DISGUISE?

THIS year,Mumbai police will host its Iftar party on August 5 at the Police Club at Azad Maidan,right across the street from the spot a riot had erupted on August 11 last year. The Iftar party is usually held every year at Haj House near CST. The venue was changed as the Haj House was not available on the scheduled date. Although the change in venue and the Iftar party coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the Azad Maidan riot was not intentional,Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh was happy when a senior officer pointed it out to him. He said it would send out a “good message.”