Zoellick challenge for securitymen
The manner in which World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick walked on Frazer Road and in Gandhi Maidan at the crack of dawn on Wednesday not only embarrassed the regular morning walkers and joggers but also the young securitymen who were escorting him.
Zoellick stepped out of his hotel room at 5am and ran towards the Dakbungalow crossing first and from there he ran to Gandhi Maidan, sources at the hotel where Zoellick was staying revealed. He made four rounds of Gandhi Maidan and the securitymen who were accompanying him were left far behind. Though young, many of the securitymen were potbellied while Zoellick looked fitter. The total distance he covered while walking briskly was almost 12km. Some of the securitymen admitted they do not walk so long even during their morning drills.
When Marachhiya Devi, mother of then chief minister Lalu Prasad, died in early-1990s, an IAS officer got his head shaven before meeting the political boss to console him for the loss. The officer was rewarded for “sharing the grief” of Lalu. He remained the district magistrate of Siwan and Purnea for years. But no official, apparently, has shaven his head on the death of Parmeshwari Devi, mother of Nitish Kumar. The officials are aware that the present chief minister does not brook “drama”. Nitish who strongly believes in culture and family rituals has got his head shaven. But the impression is he will never like his officials to do the same. A personal grief is personal and Nitish oesn’t want a “show of consolation”. Usually, the traffic on Patna streets halts when the chief minister or governor’s cavalcade crosses the area. But, much to the inconvenience of passers-by, the traffic was halted on Bailey Road and Frazer Road when the escort vehicles of state’s director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani passed through the two roads to reach Gandhi Maidan. The DGP came to Gandhi Maidan to inspect the preparations of Republic Day parade. A passer-by said: “The policemen should be there to clear the traffic. But this DGP has halted the traffic.” The traffic movement was never disturbed when the DGP or other senior officials inspected the Republic Day or Independence Day preparations in the past.”Policemen are simply baffled at the way the CPI-ML and All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) activists are burning chief minister Nitish Kumar’s effigy on a regular basis, demanding “justice” for Rupam Pathak and release of scribe Navlesh Pathak from jail. “We are really baffled at what these activists are asking for. Rupam Pathak murdered an MLA in full public view and even admitted to her crime. She is in jail,” a senior official said, adding, “There is no law on earth which can set her free after the murder. About her rape allegations, law-enforcing agencies are already seized with the matter. Then what are these activists asking for? Why are these protesters asking for the release of a man against whom the police has prima facie evidence of involvement in a conspiracy? We have handed over the case to the CBI. Nothing is in our hands now. Why they are hitting the streets, burning the chief minister’s effigy and creating undue hue and cry. It is really baffling.”
