Officers love to be in remote areas
A row erupted over the sudden transfer of former Patna city (central) superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande to Araria, but several officers keen to go to such a place. In fact, the state capital is the last place they want to be in.
A minister recalled that a long-time acquaintance of his, who was posted in Vaishali district, approached him for a transfer. “The officer was an old friend and I immediately called my personal assistant and asked him to ensure that he was posted in Patna. However, the official said he did not want to come to Patna and stressed that he wanted to be posted in Kishanganj,” said the minister, stressing that he was shocked with the request. Officers consider a posting in Patna as a “heavy stress”. “The number of VVIPs exerting pressure for work is very high. It is also the place where ministers visit government establishments frequently. Even the adjoining Vaishali has a large number of VVIPs visiting everyday,” said another official, adding that he understood the stress factor of the officials.
A recent survey shows that the flow of migrant labourers from Bihar has dropped by 25 per cent. Chief minister Nitish Kumar said even the deputy chief minister of Punjab claimed that labourers from Bihar were becoming scarce in that state. A prominent builder from Patna went to Delhi to attend a national meet convened by a body representing estate developers and builders. “Our counterparts from Mumbai, Delhi and other metros pleaded that we should help them find labourers from Bihar. The fact is, even we are helpless,” said a prominent builder of Patna. Ask the builders where all the labourers have vanished and they curse Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). “Ever since MNREGA has been introduced, the labourers have preferred to remain at home. Despite rampant corruption in the scheme, benefits still trickle down,' the builder added. Everybody in the JD(U) appears to be heading to only one destination - Lokaha in Madhubani district. “I called up a few of the middle-rung party leaders on their cellphones. All of them told me that they were in Lokaha to campaign for the party candidate. A few hours later I learnt that at least two of these leaders were in Patna and were seen at a function on the same day,” a senior JD(U) leader said. “It is not that the party has asked everybody to go to Lokaha and campaign for the candidate. The fact is that there is an impression that if you are not in Lokaha, the party does not consider you worthy enough,” aid an office-bearer of the state JD(U) sitting idle in Patna. The RJD recently convened a news conference in which an eight-year-old rape victim and her parents were present. The media did not carry the victim’s name or photograph. But several eyebrows were raised in the manner in which a political party revealed a rape victim's identity. “The RJD did the right thing by holding a news conference on the issue. But bringing the rape victim along was a goof-up. Media houses have faced cases for disclosing the identity of rape victims in the past,” a senior politician said, adding that the party needs to be cautious while raising such sensitive issues.
