Airy Excuse

The brochure proclaimed that during Hussain8217;s tenure, new routes from Patna to Bagdogra, Delhi to Bagdogra and Bagdogra to Guwahati were started. This obscure Eastern airport has become an important port simply because the minister8217;s constituency of Kisanganj is just a few hours drive from Bagdogra.

Saying It Backwards

While the brochure to commemorate Shahnawaz Hussain8217;s one year in office highlights the minister8217;s dynamism, journalists covering the attempted hijack of the Air Seychelles flight last Monday were not so impressed.

Anxious to learn the facts, the media buttonholed the minister at the airport where he was standing in the long ceremonial line to wish Vajpayee before his departure to the US. Hussain was vague about the hijack. He said the plane belonged to a small airline called 8216;8216;Chelsea Airlines8217;8217; and he couldn8217;t quite recall the name of the country where it was headed. He suggested that journalists speak to the Cabinet Secretary, T R Prasad, standing nearby, for further details.

When Prasad was asked about the Chelsea airline hijack, he put his hand on his forehead in amazement and explained that it was the Seychelles Airlines and the airlines had most definitely not been named in honour of former US President Bill Clinton8217;s daughter.

Desperate Measures

The house shortage for ministerial status bungalows in New Delhi is acute, what with 14 central ministers in the queue for type VII and type VIII size bungalows.

In fact, when TDP parliamentary party leader Yerran Naidu met a newly appointed central minister, the latter was anxious to quiz him on his ministerial bungalow at 9, Safdarjung Road. The minister explained that he was looking for a house similar to Naidu8217;s, to which the latter responded with typical Indian courtesy that my house is your house and you are welcome any time. He did not reckon that the minister would take his remark literally. While Naidu was away in Andhra Pradesh, he received a frantic telephone call from his staff in New Delhi that the minister along with Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar had come on a house inspection tour. On his return to the Capital, a rattled Naidu made it clear to the CPWD that he had no intention of giving up his bungalow, which he was fully entitled to because of his seniority as a legislator.

Incidentally, those waiting for government bungalows feel that the late Vice President Krishnan Kant8217;s family has appropriated more than its due. Kant8217;s widow insisted on a house on Krishna Menon Marg which is two notches above her entitlement, while her mother-in-law already occupies a house on Telegraph Lane for the last 20 years in the freedom fighters quota.

CPWD Does A Tughlak

The newly appointed Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries, Nikhil Choudhary, insisted that his office be located in Udyog Bhavan. Since there was no available space, the Urban Development ministry decided that the simplest solution was to break down the conference hall in Room No. 36 to accommodate him.

Industries Minister Murasoli Maran, whose ministry is responsible for the building, rejected the idea outright, pointing out that Room No. 36 was regularly used for meetings even by those ministries that are not housed in Udyog Bhavan.

But while Maran was hospitalised, the CPWD went ahead and demolished the well equipped conference hall anyway.

Maran was furious when he returned to work. A chastened CPWD is now planning to construct a new conference room in Udyog Bhavan after shifting out some of the lower division staff. The cost of this entirely unnecessary exercise is reportedly around Rs one crore!

Very Special Guest

Senior bureaucrats attending the Commerce ministry8217;s Port Officers Conference were amazed at the Ashoka Hotel8217;s discriminatory treatment. They were practically bundled out of the conference room even before their seminar had begun since the chief guest, Minister of State for Commerce Rajiv Pratap Rudi, was late.

In their eagerness to ensure that the commerce ministry staff moved, the hotel authorities as a substitute offered them a larger hall with a glittering chandelier. Before the port officers had reluctantly vacated the space, the Ashoka Hotel staff moved in with flowers, mops and dusters.

All this flutter at the ITDC-run hotel was because the next function at the same hall was the release of Congressman Jairam Ramesh8217;s book Kautilya Today by Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie. Shourie is pushing for the sale of the jewel in the ITDC crown, while Tourism Minister Jagmohan wants to hold on to it.

The Ashoka employees were anxious to ensure that Shourie had no fresh cause for complaint about their efficiency.

Illustrations by Ajit Kumar