For the first time, not a single secretary to the Government of India is from Maharashtra. Apparently, West Bengal is not the only state where babus are averse to Central deputation (with more than a nudge from chief minister Mamata Banerjee!). It does appear that by and large, Maharashtra cadre Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers are reluctant to take up assignments in New Delhi as they grow accustomed to a comfortable life in Mumbai.
In the recent past, more than a dozen bureaucrats have been empanelled for Central deputation, but barring one or two, none of them have taken up assignments. Some observers say that it was the absence of a Maharashtra “lobby” in New Delhi may have been the reason why director-general of police Satish Mathur, missed out on becoming the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. He was considered one of the three frontrunners, along with Delhi police commissioner Alok Verma and Archana Ramasundaram, an IPS officer from Tamil Nadu. However, he lost to Mr Verma clearly based on seniority, and maybe not just the lack of a lobby.
Housing blues in Telangana
Even as economists continue to wrangle over the impact of demonetisation on the economy, it has hit some senior IAS officers of Telangana hard. A proposal of the state roads and building department seeking financial clearance for the construction of 13 villas in Hyderabad for senior officials has got delayed due to the Centre’s unexpected move.
Sixty-five residential quarters meant for IAS, IPS and other senior bureaucrats were pulled down a few months ago, for the construction of 13 villas for top brass, including the chief secretary, DGP, director general, anti-corruption branch, Hyderabad police commissioner, chief minister’s office, officer on special duty, chief minister’s office secretaries, state intelligence chief, chief minister’s security officer and other senior bureaucrats.
Sources say that chief minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao was scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the villas in December on the day his new camp office was inaugurated, but this was postponed due to various reasons. Post-demonetisation, the finance department has not moved on the proposal. Unless the finance babus give administrative sanction, the tender process cannot begin. Though the babus were hoping to complete the project by the end of the year, this is beginning to look highly unlikely due to the delay.
