Opinion Dog bungalow

There is a shortage of VIP housing in the Capital.

Coomi Kapoor

October 21, 2012 02:31 AM IST First published on: Oct 21, 2012 at 02:31 AM IST

Dog bungalow

There is a shortage of VIP housing in the Capital. It is not just MPs who are cross that they have not been allotted houses,which they feel they are entitled to,there are several Central ministers who believe they have been short-changed over their accommodation. It is surprising,therefore,to find that a government bungalow in the heart of Lutyens Delhi has been reserved for the SPGs dog squad. Sniffer dogs have been housed in a bungalow on Safdarjung Lane ever since the squad was formed. No one has paused to consider whether the canines could not be kept at a further distance in less pricey kennels. They could easily be transported in a dog van to the locations where their services are required.

Private,not public

Raj Kumar Chauhan is the Delhi governments controversial PWD minister and a great favourite of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Chauhan has encroached the childrens public park next to his residence in Bhera Enclave,west Delhi,for the exclusive use of his family and guests. Instead of children playing in the garden,one sees politicians and hangers-on in a huddle waiting for an audience with the minister. Not only has Chauhan taken over the park next to his house,he has also closed the main gate of the colony. Besides the park,he has appropriated the vacant plot next to his house. The Delhi minister seems to have forgotten the appellative of his portfolio,Public Works Department. Instead,he looks upon Bhera Enclave as his private estate.

Mum military

His predecessor General V K Singh was unusually forthcoming with the media,in fact,rather garrulous and judgmental for an army chief. General Bikram Singh is the complete opposite. He has kept away from the media and given instructions to his principal staff officers and army commanders that they should not talk to the press. The army chief was accustomed to dealing with journalists; during the Kargil War,he was the colonel responsible for daily briefings. But Bikram Singh,who has been one of the targets of V K Singhs barbed attacks,feels that restoration of harmony in the army is priority and this will come only if everyone in uniform maintains a stiff upper lip.

Targeting her mother

Narendra Modis month-long Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra was originally conceived as a government programme and district collectors across the state were involved in the planning. But after the Election Commission announced the election schedule,the yatra perforce became a party programme. Modi,who recently completed the yatra,ensured that almost every major temple town in the state was on the route,while the organisers concentrated on bringing youth to the rallies. The national press may have focused on Modi questioning Sonia Gandhis travel expenses,accusing her of spending Rs 1,880 crore,but in at least three places during the yatra,the Chief Minister also referred to the travel expenses of Gandhis mother,Paola Maino. The Chief Minister wanted to know if the money for Mainos travels had come from the government exchequer.

Work in progress

Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy was perturbed to find chips of plaster from the ceiling falling on his desk in his office in North Block. Narayanasamy felt it was time his office got a coat of paint. Renovation is on before Diwali in a number of rooms in the PMO. In Narayanasamys case it is not just paint,but also some shifting of furniture,probably keeping in mind the demands of vastu.

No dropouts

The MEA calculates that normally at a function,there are last minute dropouts,so it invites more guests than it actually expects. At the Prime Ministers banquet for visiting Australian PM Julia Gillard,however,all the Indian invitees including Anand Sharma,Kapil Sibal,Ambika Soni,Sachin Pilot and Manish Tewari,showed up. The Indians far outnumbered the Australians,so at the last minute,even junior staffers of the Australian High Commission were asked to attend the banquet to keep the numbers even. The joke making the rounds is that the Congress contingent showed up in strength because nobody wanted to appear on TV talk shows to comment on the charges against BJP chief Nitin Gadkari by Arvind Kejriwal and company.