Delhi confidential: The Change

Office Matters

Officials in the Rural Development Ministry still recall the meeting where minister Chaudhry Birender Singh chided a senior bureaucrat from the Urban Development and Housing Ministry for not allotting him a bungalow in Lutyen’s Delhi. Singh, who recently got his much sought-after official bungalow, has now turned his attention to elaborately doing up his office at Krishi Bhawan. His predecessor, Jairam Ramesh, was known for his frugality in such matters. Singh has decided to combine the space that was occupied by three rooms for a sprawling ground floor office for himself with an inner resting chamber, a VVIP waiting area and conference room. While the interior work will take another month to finish, the minister is waiting at his CGO complex office instead of
Krishi Bhawan.

Under Same Roof

IAS Officer’s Association Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy and IPS (Central) Association Secretary P V R Sastry, who locked horns during the bitter tussle between the two services in the run-up to the Seventh Central Pay Commission, will soon face each other on a daily basis. Both have been posted in departments which are in the same building. While Bhoosreddy is joint secretary in the department of animal husbandry, Sastry will join the department of consumer affairs as joint secretary on Tuesday. Both departments are in Krishi Bhawan. The buzz in both services is that the officers will, hopefully, be able to “cultivate” a more cordial relationship now.

For Example

Following the Supreme Court order banning registration of diesel vehicles of over 2,000 cc engine capacity in the national capital till March 31, 2016, Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi Manoj Tiwari has now written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan seeking a ban on all such vehicles entering the Parliament complex. Tiwari has stated that such an initiative will set a precedent in the country and will be appreciated and followed by citizens.

Double-Check

After years of debating whether or not it should make use of social media, the Election Commission of India seems to have finally reached a decision. New Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi is keen that the poll panel should open Twitter and Facebook accounts, but not before weighing all the pros and cons. So the EC organised a two-day consultation with ministries to know their experience with social media. Representatives of Rashtrapati Bhawan, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, DD News and AIR were present during the meeting on Thursday and Friday.