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For Major Nirvikar Singh, serving four years as the Aide-de-Camp to the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator was worth it.

Till Nirvikar comes home
For Major Nirvikar Singh, serving four years as the Aide-de-Camp to the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator was worth it. After staying out of the rigours of his regiment for more than four years, he has managed to get another comfortable posting in the Central government. He himself describes his latest assignment as a crucial secret mission. His seniors in the regiment, who were waiting for him to return, would have to wait for a little longer.

A discerning reader
On the face of it, the Chandigarh Administration makes a great fuss about the ban of plastic bags in the city. But a discerning reader of The Indian Express discovered that the claim of the city being free from plastic bags is hollow. In a letter to the editor, the reader describes his personal experience, where on an extended shopping trip which took him to markets in Sectors 18, 19 and the grain market of 26, he received as many as 19 polythene bags from various vendors. Obviously disturbed at the impunity with which the 8216;law8217; was being flouted, he asked one of the shopkeepers about this contravention of the rule. The smart shopkeeper replied, 8220;There is no one to check us. Actually, the Administrator and the Advisor are busy with their own bickering these days. I don8217;t think they have the time or inclination to check plastic bags in the city.8221;

Fight club
But the UT Administrator and Advisor aren8217;t the only ones at loggerheads these days. The whole top brass in Chandigarh has a reason to fight. For instance, in the municipality, the councillor and the commissioner don8217;t see eye to eye on most issues. Then the CBI and the UT police are furiously fighting. There anyways is not too much fascination between these two law enforcement agencies with the former viewing the latter as inefficient and the latter viewing the CBI as supercilious and over-rated. The antipathy grew pronounced recently when a complainant in a CBI case was thrashed by a local police officer. Not willing to take the excesses of the UT police lying down, the CBI pursued the matter, and used its influence to get an inquiry marked against the erring officer.

Pseudo reports
Any journalist would tell you that the press releases which they get from the government public relations departments are excellent illustrations of how not to write English. A hopelessly bad language with a total disregard to grammar, semantic and syntax rules are the chief characteristics of these press releases. Another notable feature is the hyper bole, which is miles away from the truth. For example, after the recent courtesy visit of the Chinese Ambassador to India at Cooperation Minister Kanwaljit8217;s residence, a press note came from the state DPR which read 8220;China offers cooperation to Punjab in agriculture and dairy farming8221;. Now an Express reporter who was present there for the entire course of the 40-minute interaction between the minister and diplomat can vouch that no such sweeping offer was made. The conversation was casual at best. The closest that the conversation came to any cooperation was when Kanwaljit mentioned that China could supply aluminium phosphate to Punjab and the Ambassador gave a polite nod and the course of the conversation changed. There was no assurance, no offer, nothing at all8230;Maybe the DPR people were so perceptive that they could read the Ambassador8217;s mind and elicit an offer he didn8217;t make.

As long as it is black
The filing of nominations for the post of Mayor saw leaders of various political parties at their wittiest best. While the members of the BJP gathered for a picture, councillor Gurcharan Dass Kalaa could not be found. As people called out for Kalaa, Satya Pal Jain quipped, 8220;Yahan par pehle hi sab kale hai. Main bhi aur hamara candidate bhi. Aur kalon ki zaroorat nahin.8221; Meanwhile, Mayor Pardeep Chhabra did not want to be garlanded. His reason being 8216;jeet ke baad haar kyon8217;.