Weak Defence

In his address,DRDO chief V K Saraswat rued the fact that none of the three service chiefs were present at the function.

Weak Defence

That the Armed Forces and DRDO do not always get along is a known fact. However,this again came to light last Saturday at the annual directors conference that was organised by DRDO and presided over by Defence Minister A K Antony. In his address,DRDO chief V K Saraswat rued the fact that none of the three service chiefs were present at the function. However,Antony pointed out that the Vice-Chiefs were present and they are the operations chiefs of the three forces. Reminding DRDO to keep the users of its products happy,Antony pointed to frequent delays in weapons systems and singled out the LCA Tejas fighter project.

Deja Vu

CONGRESS vice-president Rahul Gandhi played a key role in the appointment of four vice-presidents in Punjab PCC a move that will greatly undermine newly-appointed PCC chief Pratap Singh Bajwas authority. The attempt to entrust organisational affairs in different regions of Punjab to vice-presidents resembled what Rahul had earlier done in Uttar Pradesh,where zonal in-charges were appointed to assist the PCC chief. One of the Punjab PCC vice-presidents,Tarlochan Singh,a former regional passport officer,was earlier OSD to former chief minister Beant Singh whose grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu is a close aide of Rahul Gandhi.

Return Ticket

WITH former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangmas political outfit coming a cropper in the last Meghalaya Assembly elections,many senior leaders who had quit the NCP to join Sangma have approached the NCP leadership seeking their return to the party fold. While the NCP leaders are open to the idea of welcoming them back,the central leadership is clear that there will be no second homecoming for Sangma and his family. Sangmas daughter Agatha remains an NCP MP,but she is also likely to opt for her fathers party after her term in this Lok Sabha is over.

Central Problems

THE top brass of the CISF in Delhi is unhappy with its units spread across the country. Recently,CISF issued a warning that the unit heads were not reporting all the incidents to the forces headquarters in Delhi. The CISF issued a circular saying that it is mandatory for all units to report even small and petty incidents to the headquarters. An official said this was being done to micro-manage things,while projecting the units as inefficient in handling situations on their own.

Official Workout

SENIOR officers were seen sweating it out at the CGO complex in the national capital last week as there was no electricity in the entire complex for the second consecutive day. The CPWD,which looks after the maintenance of the building complex,had snapped the connection following non-payment of electricity bills by the respective offices there. The CPWD said these offices owed more than Rs 4 crore as outstanding amount. With the escalators not working,officers were seen huffing and puffing. Even the internet connection was down.