Contract teachers tear rally posters

The agitating contractual teachers allegedly tore apart some Adhikar Rally posters and banners put up across the state capital by the JD(U) leaders. Apart from disturbing traffic movement, the contractual teachers appear to be complying with the directive of the RJD to create disturbances for our political event,” said a JD(U) leader, stressing that the contractual teachers would be nowhere in sight on November 4 because a sea of humanity would come to Patna that day. The JD(U) leaders did not appear to be perturbed over the poster episode. “We have already painted the city green with posters and banners. Removing a few will hardly make a difference,” he said.

Indian photo service joke

The latest joke doing the rounds in the IAS circle in Patna is renaming the Indian Police Service (IPS) as “Indian Photography Service” because of director-general of police Abhayanand’s decision to video record the rioting in Patna on June 1 instead of using force. “The Madhubani police did not know that they belonged to the ‘Indian Photography Service’ and opened fire at the rioters,” said a senior IAS officer. If sources are to be believed, the IAS lobby have serious reservations against video recording riots instead of containing them using force. The police officers have been apparently told that they could open fire or use force only if the district magistrate concerned ordered them to do so. “The loss of government property in Madhubani would have been much less if we had been strict right from the beginning,” said another IAS officer.

Filtered rebuke

As a minister’s voice became louder while giving a dressing down to his department’s engineers, the faces of the techies turned grim. “Don't make a long face. You people are getting filtered light. The principal secretary of the department and I have to face the full ultra-violet rays when we meet the chief minister with our department’s report card,” the minister told the engineers. “It comes right from the top and trickles down to the bottom,” said an engineer coming out of the meeting. He stressed that the relationship of the ministers with the chief minister can be judged from their level of voice with which they address their department officials.

Bungalow, sweet bungalow

Bihar cadre IPS officer Rajesh Ranjan went on central deputation in August but his family members are still occupying his official bungalow in Patna. They recently received an eviction order after the bungalow was allotted to former chief secretary Navin Kumar, a chairman of a governing body at present. The family of the transferred officer did get a breather, but there are several instances of IAS officers posted out of Patna retaining their official residences in the state capital even six months after their transfer. Nobody wants to vacate the sprawling bungalows of Bihar government built during the British period. “It’s a luxury many can't dream of in Delhi,” said an IAS officer.