Mananiya Mukhyamantriji

Mere samasya ka samadhan karne ki kripa ki jaye (Bless me by solving my problem)

Sanju Devi, Karpi block, Khajari panchayat, Arwal district

Mananiya Mukhyamantriji

Mere samasya ka samadhan karne ki kripa ki jaye (Bless me by solving my problem)

Prasad Paswan, Haspura block, Koilia panchayat, Aurangabad district

Mananiya Mukhyamantriji

Mere samasya ka samadhan karne ki kripa ki jaye (Bless me by solving my problem)

Motiharo Devi, Makdumpur block, Jamanganji panchayat, Jehanabad district

Got the drift? Mananiya Mukhyamantriji did.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar was on Monday struck by a common thread running through several appeals to him, bringing home the existence of a flourishing cottage application industry at his doorstep.

Nitish was stumped when he discovered that seven applications at his janata darbar had the same format — the language and the tone were similar and what was more puzzling, the problems mentioned in them were very different from what the applicants were narrating to him.

Intrigued, the chief minister did some further probing and found that the seven applications — all in Hindi — had been drafted in the same handwriting, scribbled with blue ink on identical white sheets of paper.

Nitish became exasperated when he found that the application of Lalita Kuwar (60) was no different from what had been submitted by the six persons preceding her. He asked Lalita to narrate her problem, to which the woman from Gopalganj said, “Sir, I don’t have a hand-pump in my house. Some hooligans are troubling me. I want you to help me.”

Perplexed, Nitish muttered, “But your application says you are suffering from an ailment for which you need financial help. The previous applicants too had put down some problems but came up with some other grievances. I think there is some problem. You have been misguided but someone.”

Lalita then blurted out, “Sir, there is a man sitting outside who had written our letters after taking Rs 20 from each of us. We don’t know how to write.”

Nitish immediately asked Patna district magistrate Sanjay K. Singh, who was present at the darbar, to investigate. “It is a serious act of fraud. The people here are coming from far with their problems. Some cheats are around to fudge with their applications to make a fast buck,” the chief minister told the DM.

Singh, accompanied by some policemen, rushed out of the darbar. But by that time, the “ghost writer” was nowhere to be seen.

Sources said a few “professional application writers” were always around outside the venue of the Janata Darbar to help the applicants, many of who can’t read or write, to fill out the application forms.

The “ghost writer” today had failed to put down what the applicants actually wanted to convey to the chief minister and had instead written on issues which were of no relevance to the complainants.

The chief minister acknowledged that unemployment was a problem and that he did not mind an unemployed youth writing out the application on behalf of the illiterate complainants. “But one should not write a wrong application. Writing a wrong application is unethical and unacceptable,” he said.

Around 2,000 people attend the weekly janata darbar — held every Monday with the last event of the month reserved for NDA workers. Each such darbar deals with applications concerning certain departments and these details are advertised in advance for the convenience of the people. Today’s darbar dealt with nine departments including road and road construction, animal husbandry and minor irrigation.

The people start congregating outside the venue from the previous night or from early morning as they queue up to get the registration cards which are issued from 7am on Monday. The people are expected to produce the registration card along with their applications while sharing their grievances with the chief minister.

The darbar begins at 10am with the chief minister, flanked by the minister and senior officials of the department concerned, first meeting the lady applicants. He then personally goes across to meet those physically challenged.

The others are heard out after that. The darbar continues till the last applicant has narrated his or her grievances.