Tough taskmaster

New Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is said to be making the green ministry babus work a lot more.

New Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is said to be making the green ministry babus work a lot more. It is learnt that Moily stays on in office till 8 pm or even longer so that he can dispose of all files on his table. Dividing time between Oil and Environment ministries,Moily spends the first half of the day at Oil Ministrys Shastri Bhawan office and moves to Paryavaran Bhawan post-lunch

Meeting ground

RASHTRAPATI Bhavan played the role of matchmaking when Maldives President Abdulla Yameen came calling. The cynosure of all eyes was the meeting between G M Rao,the 57-year-old founder and CMD of GMR group,and Yameen at Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Pranab Mukherjee hosted a banquet for the newly-elected

president. It may be noted that Maldives government had,about 14 months ago,cancelled the GMR contract for the Male international airport,and GMR group is now asking for a hefty compensation. While talks are going on between officials from GMR and Maldives government for an out-of-court settlement,the serene lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan certainly would have given them an opportunity to exchange quick notes.

Raising eyebrows

The presence of two Congress leaders AICC general secretary and head of the communication department Ajay Maken and department secretary Tom Vadakkan at the Prime Ministers official press conference at the National Media Centre Friday surprised many. While there was a bevy of PMO and I&B Ministry officials at the press interaction,none expected the Congress media departments key persons to make an appearance although the Congress has off late been making some attempts to bring in much-needed synergy between the party and the government. The question about their presence was put to Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley at his press conference later in the day,but the BJP leader chose to make light of it.

Fire drill

MINISTER of state for Railways Adhir Chowdhury took a high level meeting to understand what the ministry has been doing about fire safety and what it intends to do. Facing flak from a concerned minister,officials have apparently said around 750 trains will have automatic smoke/fire alarm system installed in a year but have also added that they cost a lot. The minister has now asked them to hold refresher course for coach attendants in fire safety drills to which the officials have agreed.

Security upgrade

While the security cover for BJPs prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was upgraded after the serial blasts at his Patna rally,the president of the party has also been a collateral beneficiary. Rajnath Singh,who has NSG cover,has recently been given new escort vehicles for his security detail. While earlier he had Ambassador cars,the BJP president now has two new Innovas for his security and escort staff.