Marandi finds official residence of CM very `small’

After Marandi was sworn in as Chief Minister, government officials made sure that the building was white-washed and readied to welcome him.

However, Marandi never occupied the building and has reportedly decided not to make it his official residence. ‘‘Instead, the Chief Minister has opted to make the commissioner’s residence his official residence,’’ said a senior IAS officer on condition of anonymity.

The commissioner’s residence, located near the Bihar CM’s residence, is a Colonial double-storied building with 12 rooms, two kitchens, a portico, four garages, a water spot with a fountain and a lush garden on 14 acres of land.Highly-placed sources in the state administration confirmed that Marandi, who is on the hit list of ultras and is reportedly being provided with ‘Z’ category security by the Union Home Ministry, was not influenced by any security considerations. There are reportedly fewer security risks at the chief minister’s official residence.

‘‘Since the chief minister wanted this, we had no other alternative than to honour his decision,’’ said a Jharkhand government secretary. ‘‘After all, the chief minister can’t have an official residence which is smaller in size than that of his Commissioner,’’ he added, justifying Marandi’s move.

On the flip side, while the Commissioner’s residence is being cleared to house Marandi, who is putting up at the Circuit House, there are hundreds of officials and government staff who haven’t been provided with official accommodation.They are living on pavements near the Jharkhand secretariat and even on railway platforms.

About 1,300 government employees and officials of the Jharkhand government have arrived from Patna. But only 300-odd of them were provided with flats owned by the Heavy Engineering Corporation.

But Chief Secretary V.S.Dubey, who is himself putting up at the Circuit House, says, ‘‘Institutionalisation of the government will take time. Everything will become all right soon’’.

Although none of the 81 MLAs who have occupied rooms allotted to them in the hostel near the Jharkhand Assembly, have protested in a major way against the non-allotment of official residences, two secretaries of the the Jharkhand government, Cabinet Secretary Narendra Bhagat and Development Secretary G. Krishnan, have reportedly ‘‘captured’’ a duplex apartment belonging to the HEC and the Ranchi Deputy Development Commissioner’s residence, respectively. Both of these were unoccupied.

Nonetheless, four departments of the 19 Cabinet, Finance, Home and Personnel have started functioning. Most of these departments, have got new furniture, telephones, stationary and man power.

But not even one department is in possession of the files pertaining to its assets and liabilities. These files were to come from Patna, but have not yet arrived.