Inside track

Nobody dared answer back. Even the private TV channels need the minister on their side. Star TV still aspires for clearance for itsambitious DTH project. Mahajan has airily promised a decision by next month. Doesn8217;t Communication Minister Jagmohan have a say in the matter? Star8217;s problem is it has a difficult time convincing the independent-minded Prannoy Roy to tone down its anti-government pronouncements in NDTV8217;s news programmes.Mahajan8217;s bullying ways seem to have intimidated even Prasar Bharati members. Last month George Verghese called a meeting of DD senior staff and invited the joint secretary of Information and Broadcasting to be present, although DD is now on paper supposed to be free of government control.Mahajan proclaims that if the Government spends over Rs 1,000 crore on subsidising Prasar Bharati it can8217;t allow a few Prasar Bharati members to have total control. But it is not up to Mahajan to take this decision unilaterally, Parliament has first to undo the Prasar Bharati Act!

Elevated status

Whenever Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi visits his office in Shastri Bhawan, the lift in hiswing is reserved for his exclusive use. The blocking of the lift begins some half an hour before the minister arrives and it is kept in readiness till Joshi leaves. Everyone else in the wing has perforce to walk up and down the stairs when Joshi is in his office, which fortunately, is not so frequent. It seems the elevator men are terrified of incurring Joshi8217;s wrath. Once the minister had to wait a minute or two to take the lift downwards and he was so furious that he ordered the liftman to be suspended.

Deliberate snub?

In the hierarchy-conscious Sangh Parivar, everyone is particularly deferential to Sunder Singh Bhandari since he is considered the senior most member of the BJP. After all he joined the Jana Sangh along with Deen Dayal Upadyaya in 1952, ahead of both L.K. Advani and A.B. Vajpayee.Home Ministry officials recall an incident last year when the Bihar Governor was visiting Advani in his North Block office. Home Secretary B.P. Singh sent word that he would like to meet the Governorsince he was just a stone8217;s throw away. Bhandari declined on the grounds that a Governor cannot visit the office of a mere home secretary. Advani8217;s obliging officer on special duty Deepak Chopra was asked to arrange a room in the Home Ministry where the two could meet without a breach of protocol. Problem was that no suitably furnished room could be commandeered at such short notice. Given Bhandari8217;s touchiness, Advani8217;s public remark about shifting Bhandari out of Bihar, is all the more curious!

Pest control

Last month, Minister for Industries Sikander Bakht was addressing a meeting of foreign delegates at Udyog Bhawan and there was a bang. The noise turned out to be not a bomb but the sound of a rodent getting caught in an antiquated rat trap. The CPWD has begun its annual spring cleaning exercise in Delhi8217;s decaying government buildings; some like the North and South Block are 75 years old. The government8217;s methods of fumigation are as antiquated as the structures.

One finds napthalene ballsscattered around carpets and in all corners of offices as if it was part of the decor. The smell of phenyl is so strong that those with a sensitive nose find it difficult to breathe, but the army of cockroaches and white ants continue to flourish. Another standard procedure is to drill holes at strategic points near switch boards and insert a powder which is supposed to keep insects away. As the new millennium approaches, surely the Government should consider applying more modern and scientific methods of pest control and fumigation.

Guest overstays

The Urban Development ministry has a problem persuading most government departments which took temporary space8217; in the Vigyan Bhavan Annexe to vacate. For example, back in 1991 the Jain Commission was given accommodation. It took till 1997 to bring out its inquiry report running into over 20 volumes and 10,000 pages. Then came the Action taken Report ATR on the Commission8217;s findings. Now the multi-disciplinary monitoring agency under CBI jointdirector R.N. Kaul which is looking into the ATR findings, has taken over the full floor of the annexe finally vacated by the Jain Commission.