Flower fails to cover stench

A minister last week fumed over the nauseating stench emanating from the water body inside the roundabout just outside Patna Junction. A district agency was assigned the task of cleaning the small pond at the roundabout, which also has a statue of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharla Nehru. But it hardly bothered to keep it spick and span. he agency tried to do a cover-up job on Friday morning by covering the pond with flowers, as chief minister Nitish Kumar was supposed to pay floral tributes to the statue of Nehru. But the minister spotted the reality. “The chief minister may miss it because he has to stay here just for a few minutes. But I have to wait for him for half-an-hour and have to tolerate the nauseating stench,” the minister said. Patna has statues of several icons, including Karpoori Thakur, SK Sinha, BR Ambedkar, Ramanand Tiwari and Ram Manohar Lohia. Most of them are poorly maintained. They are decked up on the dignitaries’ birth and death anniversaries.

Remote control

JD chief Lalu Prasad may be in Delhi but he loves to remote control his leaders in Patna. On Friday, the RJD convened a news conference hurriedly. A visibly unwell Leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui and party MP Ram Kripal Yadav addressed it. There was grumbling against an aide for coming late and not preparing the news release on time. “Actually, the state RJD leaders forgot that chief minister Nitish Kumar had completed six months of his second tenure and that they should use the occasion to launch an all out attack on the state government,” a leader of the RJD said. The RJD leaders are hoping that Lalu would be in Patna soon to take control of the party ffairs.

College student scolds officer

A youngster came to the Patna district magistrate’s janata darbar complaining that he was not receiving his scholarship for a long time. The district magistrate called the official concerned to express his anger over the failure of the officials to award scholarships to students on time. The district magistrate shouted at the official. The student joined him. The district magistrate immediately rebuked the student for shouting at his officer and asked which college he studied in. When the student told him about the institution, the district magistrate realised that the college has the reputation of its students creating ruckus both on the campus and outside. “I am sure you are present in all these events,” he told the student.

Singers’ voice lost in noise

Performing at government functions at a roundabout near the station is artistes’ nightmare. They were required to do so on a couple of occasions with their musical instruments. “But you can hardly isten to your own voice when you are singing there. The noise of the traffic and the nearby temple gives the rtistes the opportunity to get away by just moving lips,” an artiste said, insisting that the custom of artistes having to perform in such noisy places should not be continued with. “I feel insulted when I am asked to perform at such places,” he said.