Hum to chale pardes. Par thoda jyaada jaldi chal pade.
One recently axed, I mean ex-Chief Minister, sometime back was traveling to London. In over excitement to see one of his children settled there, he did not see the visa date stamped on his passport and he not only booked his tickets but even reached the airport 48 hours before his visa tenure began. Though it was an Air India flight from New Delhi, the Air India officials refused to let him board the plane. Kudos to the Air India staff for going by the bookNow, with no bureaucrats assigned to him and his PA (then too) also known for his absent-mindedness, there was a big issue. However, we are told that since the axed, oops the ex-Chief Minister is a nice cordial human being who has traveled overseas several times, the United Kingdom offices obliged and changed his visa overnight and welcomed him to their lovely country.
Where’s the party tonight?
Babudom never gets boring. Gujarat is abuzz with tales of two IAS officers’ kids, One’s daughter and the other’s son are being talked about on the party scene. Wednesday Vibes heard rumours about their addiction. We can confirm there is no addiction. But let us tell you, people above 40 in Gujarat are real hypocrites. Especially when it comes to the opposite sex. There are these two young adults both in their 20’s, who have re-located post-Covid to Gujarat and boy, how they are regretting it about being talked about.
Their IAS fathers and families are excellent but hypocrites are out to defame these two young adults, one girl who loves her smoke and another who loves his clubbing. Well, clubbing in Gujarat?
The IAS officers are known for their wonderful nature, services and have decided to settle down in Gujarat after retirement. The kids are now forcing their parents to rethink their idea of settling down in Gujarat and forcing them to move to, err Delhi or even their native States which are more “vibrant” than Gujarat when it comes to having good innocent fun.
In Gujarat, when a girl especially is seen partying even one-fourth of what normal people do in Pune or Chennai, forget Mumbai, Delhi or Chandigarh are wagging around with these tales of the young adult girl and a much older man. Both of them do not know each other but are known for their partying ways which does not gel with Gujarat. We would call it hypocrisy. So, we were really fine when we bumped into these two at a party recently. There was no alcohol or drugs but even wearing spaghettis in this State drew eyebrows. As if we don’t know.
But for all youngsters in Gujarat: we have a caution. Don’t drink. You may end up with dirty pictures sitting in a police station. Sorry bachchas for this.
But other than booze and drugs, carry on partying.
Aap aise to nahi the. Itna bhi Vibrant mat bano, Babu ji.
Enter Sachivalaya and the one thing you will hear in every department is Vibrant Gujarat. From Industries and Mines to the Education department; most IAS officers are prepping up for the mega business event. The flip side is, while some are genuinely loaded with work, others have taken this as an opportunity to escape work. Work in many departments has come to standstill due to Vibrant Gujarat–an event which itself is a question due to the increasing new Covid variant Omicron scare.
Many important files are getting rusted in the old almirahs of government offices and several tenders are yet not processed. Officers have announced that the files will be cleared only after the completion of the event. Not just IAS officers, even ministers are gearing up for the international event but it’s 1.5 months to go for
the event and all the people who come to Sachivalaya for their pending work have to go home in despair. Seems like there are ‘two Vibrant Gujarat’, one which welcomes international dignitaries and the other which disappoints its own people.
Hum to therre land grabber, kahi bhai udd jayenge..
An infamous land grabber from Jamnagar, Patel’s activities have created innumerable problems in direct conflict with law and order. The nefarious network of Patel went so out of hand that to curb the menace, DCP Deepan Bhadran was specially posted as Superintendent of Police at Jamnagar. Not only that he had the attention of a person of the stature of Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani, who exposed him through social media.
Parimal Nathwani had taken up the issue while welcoming the new Superintendent of Police Deepan Bhadran in a series of tweets last year alluding to illegal activities of Jayesh Patel.
But we are now told that even while being parked in US of A, Jayesh Patel is fearlessly carrying on his activities. Is land grabbing an addiction? We are told Jayesh is blessed by an IPS officer. And this well networked IPS officer has managed to slow down the pace of investigation. Of course, all with a hefty share. Nope. Another P. Not for Patel. But for Partnership.
Hum to hue Deewane, Mamta ji ke kaam ke.
The officials in the Energy and Petrochemicals vibe a little different these days. The otherwise serious department has a new gush of energy after 1996-batch IAS Mamta Verma was given charge of the department– June 2021. The whispers are that officials find the Gujarat cadre IAS grounded, humble and efficient. “Officials in the department are very happy with her appointment. She never has to raise her voice to get her work done. Be it Vibrant Gujarat or the usual work of tenders, the department is working in full force.
Surprisingly, sometimes we have to remind her that she should be a little sticker or at least pretend to be so!” said a source.
Three cheers for Mamta Verma, that’s what the department officials said.
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Mere paas building hai, land hai par roti khaali ho gayi.
No matter what the event is, we Gujaratis always want to know what’s on the menu. At a recent real estate expo in Amdavad the biggest of builders from across the State came together to present grievances of the industry to Cabinet minister Rajendra Trivedi, but guess what the real grievance was!? Rotis. While over 400 members from the fraternity came together for lunch there weren’t enough rotis. Unfortunately, the guests had to savour daal, chawal and punjabi sabji. But thanks, the desserts saved us.
Inteha ho gayi intezar ki, aayi na kuch khabar mere transfer ki.
Babudom in Gujarat is a victim of selective amnesia it may seem given how the two-and-a-half-year transfer cycle usually followed by the IAS administration is being flouted and at least 16 officers have not been transferred to their posts for close to five years.
The most striking example is that of HJ Desai in Narmada Complaint Redressal Cell, who has been at the post for eight years. Additional chief secretary (urban development) Mukesh Puri, too, has been occupying his position for the last four and a half months; Warehousing Corporation MD Sanjay Nandan has been stuck for over two and a half years.
There are several officers in the same office, who like Desai and Puri, are awaiting transfer orders. Jenu Devam, MD, Tourism Corporation, Sunil Kumar Dholi, Director Prohibition, CEO Auda Atul Gor, Additional Rural Development Commissioner Kumari Bhargavi Dave, Stamp Duty Superintendent D G Patel, M I Patel, Joint Secretary, Power all have completed the tenure of more than 40 to 42 months in their respective offices.
Vatsala Vasudev, MD, GIPCL, Vinod Rao from primary education, Bhavnagar Municipal Commissioner MA Gandhi and Arti Kanwar, Resident Commissioner of Government of Gujarat in New Delhi, too, have completed three to four years also.
Bade bade desh mein chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hai.
A political party known for its corporate-like impeccable management is not immune to the occasional loopholes. The lack of coordination between the party and the government was apparent recently when a minister from the brand-new cabinet left Sachivalaya for a political programme along with all his requisite band, baaja and baarat. His PA called the local BJP neta of the area where the procession was heading to ‘check in’ on arrangements only to be asked what he was talking about.
Then the local BJP made it clear that within such short notice it was not possible to arrange for a respectable turnout for the gathering, the minister saheb had to make a U-turn from Koba circle to the cosy confines of his chamber.
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Ek Saal baad?
Sixteen GAS ( Gujarat Administrative Service ) cadre officers who got inducted into IAS are afraid that their posting as per the new cadre will take longer to come. The same fate was faced by the previous batch who had to wait for almost a year.
GERC ka jhatka.
Former Chief Secretary Anil Mukim is a nice, friendly man. Though he has never shared any stories with us; we like him. Infact, during a miserable phase of one of our team mates, he gave good advise too for civil services preps also. He was also very friendly with the Regime and still is. But we were guessing he would get something much better and bigger than Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) chairmanship. We believe he deserved a better posting. So do many others who see this only as a stop gap arrangement for something bigger in Mumbai or Delhi.
Tumne pukara to hum party mein chale aaye.
Have you heard of this senior officer. Right now pushed to the corner, this IAS officer who doesn’t have more than a year to retire has become more of a socialite than an officer. A little birdie sent us pictures of him partying with wine and women and everything beautiful around him. The birdie requested us to publish those pictures but nope, we will not.
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