Address mattersin DM’s darbar

Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh hates commotion at his janata darbar. But last Thursday, he silently tolerated the irritating loud ring tone of a swanky cellphone flaunted by a person perhaps because the latter hailed from Bakhtiyarpur, the home of chief minister Nitish Kumar. ingh usually meets petitioners in small groups and listens to them one by one to avoid commotion and goof-ups. But the moment he started interacting with the complainants last Thursday, the mobile phone rang blaring the beats of dhol, cymbals, harmonium and other musical instruments. The loud ring tone virtually disturbed the peace in an otherwise calm and quiet ambience of the janata darbar. Singh asked: “Where you have come from? The entire city can hear your ring tone.” The man replied that he belonged to Bakhtiyarpur. The district magistrate smirked but restrained himself from indulging in jibes. He talked to the man quite cautiously. A complainant said: “After all, he (the man with mobile) belongs to Nitish Kumar’s place. His belongingness to the state’s most important destination had given him confidence to flaunt his mobile at the darbar.”

Cop son’s big buy

Hero Honda recently launched its costliest motorcycle priced at Rs 1.75 lakh in Patna. The bike’s first buyer happened to be the son of a constable posted at the state election office. The constable’s son, who is from north Bihar’s Vaishali district, surprised even the Hero Honda salesmen for being the first to buy their costliest product. “How can a lowly paid constable’s son buy our costliest product?” a salesman asked. What surprised them more was the fact that the cop’s bike-loving son was unemployed. “Look, it is as hard to get an honest cop as a horned horse. The British rulers fixed lowest salary for the darogas and sipahis (sub-inspectors and constables) because they knew that they cannot live without bribe,” said another salesman. It is altogether a different matter that chief minister Nitish Kumar has launched a campaign against corruption using the police set-up, which remains under the suspicion of the common people.

Nitish ‘cures’ ailing visitor

A healthy man turned up at chief minister Nitish Kumar’s janata darbar on Monday claiming that he was suffering from acute arthritis. He wanted Nitish to give him money for treatment. The chief minister first looked at him closely and asked the securitymen and other officials around to move to a distance. Nitish then asked the “ailing” visitor to walk around. The visitor walked briskly. Then the chief minister said: “Now I have understood what sort of arthritis you are suffering from.” An official at the janata darbar said: “The chief minister is the son of a renowned vaidya (ayurvedic healer) of his time. He can easily diagnose who is actually ailing and who has come to ask for money on the pretext of ailment.”

Chair short, minister walks out

Nitish Kumar wants his ministers to sit with him when he addresses the reporters on the sidelines of his janata darbar every Monday. Usually, the service staff at 1 Aney Marg arranges adequate chairs to enable the ministers to sit in the same row with the chief minister. Incidentally, the mines and geology minister, Satyadeo Narayan Arya, failed to find a chair to sit on Monday. As Nitish saw the minister standing, he turned towards the workers, asking for a chair. Arya left the venue in a huff murmuring: “Baithne ke liye kursi bhi nahin hai (There is not even a chair to sit in).” Another minister said: “Arya is a senior leader. Nitish will not mind his anger.”