Mal mas plays spoilsport, Raje to wait for new office

Principal Secretary, PWD C S Rajan confirmed that though no date has been decided for Raje and her officers to shift into the new building, it will be only be after Makar Sankranti. “We have been told that it will be only after January 14. The building has been almost ready for a month and we have been using it as convention centre for seminars and meetings,” said Rajan.

Prior to regular use of the convention centre, the Chief Minister had conducted a meeting and inaugurated the CMO over a small function on December 8, a week before the mal mas began. However, the actual shifting was postponed for a shubh muhrat after January 14.

A senior officer at the CMO said, “The building is ready to be moved into but we are waiting for the Chief Minister to formally announce a date. As she is quite superstitious, we know it will not be before next week.”

The new CMO building, constructed in the south-west corner of the Secretariat, took over year to be ready. The three-storied structure has specifically designed chambers for officers, a state-of-art convention centre, high-tech security system with close circuit cameras and a touch-screen system on the first floor for every visitor to record his or her thumb impression.

The vaastu of the building has also been kept in mind. Raje’s chamber faces the south-west direction, which according to vaastu experts, is meant for the owner of the building and sitting in this corner ensures ownership right is not disturbed. The main entrance faces north-east, the ‘God’s Corner’ meant to keep problems at bay. A senior PWD engineer said, “The plan was made keeping in mind the vaastu requirements as we were specifically asked to do so.”

Meanwhile, even the announcement of the new state BJP president has been deferred till next week. The announcement was to be made in New Delhi after the party meet last weekend, but it was again the mal mas that proved to be a hurdle. A senior BJP leader said, “What’s the hurry? The issue has been going on for so long now, what difference does it make if the announcement comes a week late?”