THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABADMONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 20144 TIMES CITY

Gujarat finance minister Saurabh

Patel recently caused a flutter in bu-reaucratic circles whenhe issued an order ask-ing all secretaries to pro-vide him ‘status reports’on the work done bytheir respective depart-ments and the orders is-

sued by them in the last few months.What made it tougher for the babus wasthat Patel gave them only two days tosubmit the status reports. Usually, it isonly the chief minister who asks all de-partments for such reports; other minis-ters restrict themselves to their port-folios. Hence, Patel’s order not came as asurprise to all but triggered much spec-ulation about his ‘real intentions’. Oflate, Patel has been under fire for report-edly favouring big industrialists andeven socialites in making appointmentsto government boards, corporations andstate-owned companies even as hun-dreds of senior BJP leaders continue towait for such small favours.

Pandiyan speech‘inspiring’D Jagatheesa Pandiyan seems to

have given an inspired speech at thefirst secretaries meetinghe attended after be-coming Gujarat’s chiefsecretary. The secretar-ies had organized afunction to welcomePandiyan as chief secre-

tary and bid farewell to former addition-al chief secretary (finance) Hasmukh Ad-hia who has shifted to Delhi. Pandiyan, a1981 batch IAS officer, is known as agood speaker but only on matters con-cerning energy and industry. This wasthe first time that he spoke on a differentkind of subject. His speech seems tohave gone down well with babus be-cause a very senior secretary said that,for the firsttime, Pandi-yan’s speechwas full ofemotion.“His enthusi-asm was no-ticed by ev-eryone. Hespoke like agood motiva-tional speak-er,” the secretary said. In his speech,Pandiyan stressed the need to build a re-al Team Gujarat of officials. He told thesecretaries that the state still needs tobe a model state in many areas and itwas the responsibility of senior officialsto make the state an ideal one in all de-partments, the official said.

Vibrant can bank onAdhia promiseHasmukh Adhia, who has joined as

secretary, department of financialservices in the Union fi-nance ministry, was giv-en farewell at the lastsecretaries meeting. Inhis speech on the occa-sion, Adhia promised theassembled babus that

he would bring top international and na-tional bankers to Gujarat during the Vi-brant Gujarat Global Investors Summitscheduled for January 2015. Adhia wasadditional chief secretary (finance) inthe Gujarat government before shiftingto Delhi. Earlier still, he was principalsecretary to Narendra Modi when thelatter was chief minister of Gujarat.Many of his seniors in his batch havebeen appointed special secretaries butAdhia superseded many of them to be-come secretary in a key department atthe Centre. Several officials believe thatAdhia will get a bigger role in the centralgovernment once he settles down in Del-hi.

Murmu may move outof CMOG irish Chandra Murmu, principal

secretary to chief minister Anandi-ben Patel, may soonmove out of the ChiefMinister’s Office (CMO).The 1985 batch IAS offi-cer is currently abroadon month-long training.

If the secretariat grapevine is any guide,Murmu is expected to get an excellentposting soon in the central governmentor may be posted in another departmentin the state government itself.His name is also making the rounds asthe next principal secretary (home) be-cause no regular posting has been made

in the department. For the last manyyears, Murmu has also held the post ofprincipal secretary, law and order, inthe home department.At the same time, many senior bureau-crats feel that Murmu may be shiftedto the urban development departmentas secretary, if Ganga Ram Aloria, ad-ditional chief secretary, urban devel-opment, is given full charge of thehome department. (Aloria is currentlyholding additional charge of home.)

Murmu has handled urban developmentmatters in the CMO for the last manyyears. He is also known to be very closeto BJP president Amit Shah, bete noire ofchief minister Anandiben Patel. The gra-pevine is that this could be one of thekey reasons why Murmu may be shiftedout of the CMO.

Earlier, Murmu had served as principalsecretary to Narendra Modi for 10 yearswhen the latter was chief minister ofGujarat.

IPS officers’ protestdraws flakThe recent much-publicized protest by

state IPS Officers’ Association overpending promotions is being seen in po-litical and bureaucratic circles as a ‘keyfailure’ of chief minister Anandiben Pa-tel’s government. Some babus wereheard saying that this had never hap-pened when Narendra Modi was chiefminister and Amit Shah was minister ofstate for home. A very senior IAS officerconsidered close to Anandiben Patelsaid on the condition of anonymity thatthe recent protest by IPS Officers’ Asso-ciation with members meeting the DGPover delayed promotions, was a “veryserious issue”. “Such indiscipline in theIPS cadre can provoke indiscipline in oth-er cadres too. Even minister of state(home) Rajanikant Patel has not takenthe ‘unionbaji’ of IPS officers seriously.The protest can be seen as a sign ofweakness of the administration and thismay be used against the chief ministerby her political rivals,’’ said the IAS officer.

Ganga Ram Aloria to be new IASassociation prezGanga Ram Aloria, additional chief

secretary, urban development de-partment, is the chair-man of IAS Officer’sMonday Tea Club (betterknown as Sidelined Offi-cers’ Tea Club or SOTC).Now, he is also likely totake over as president of

state IAS Officers’ Association as he isthe senior-most officer after chief secre-tary DJ Pandiyan. At present, 1978 batchIAS officer S K Nanda who has been ap-pointed chairman and managing direc-tor of Vadodara-based state-ownedcompany, GSFC, is the president of theassociation. When Nanda was madepresident of the association, he was thesenior-most officer after chief secretaryVaresh Sinha who retired last month. However, after Pandiyan supersededNanda to become chief secretary, ac-cording to tradition the senior-most offi-cer after the CS would become presidentof the association. The association islikely to meet in the next few days to se-lect a new president and other office-bearers. If Aloria refuses to be president,then the 1983 batch IAS officer, J NSingh, is likely to be chosen in his place.Singh is currently additional chief secre-

tary, finance and revenue department.

Agrawal pines forindustryArvind Agrawal is known to have an

inclination for the industry sector.The 1984 batch IAS offi-cer is currently postedas addition chief secre-tary, education (primaryand secondary) and isthe overall in-charge ofthe education depart-

ment. If sources are to be believed, hewas expecting a posting as additionalchief secretary, industry and mines de-partment, in the recent reshuffle but thegovernment appointed his junior, AtanuChakraborty, as principal secretary ofthe department. The sources said Agra-wal is quiet unhappy with the govern-ment’s decision as he believes that hehas better claims to a posting in the in-dustry department, given his long expe-rience of the subject. Hence, he hasmade a representation at the top levelfor the government to reconsider his de-cision. Earlier, too, Agrawal was expect-ing a posting in the industry departmentwhen Maheshwar Sahu retired and DJPandiyan was appointed first as in-charge and then as full-time additionalchief secretary of the department. Forsome reason, the government had notconsidered Agrawal for the post but giv-en him instead the more onerous task ofcleaning up the mess in the educationdepartment.

Haider blamed forGSWAN glitchesS J Haider, secretary, science and tech-

nology, has come under sharp crit-icism for the deteriorating GSWAN Net-work service in the secretariat and theother government offices. In the last sixmonths, the GSWAN Network has mal-functioned several times. Several seniorsecretaries have complained to Haiderabout poor GSWAN connectivity but the1991 batch IAS officer’s focus these daysis primarily on new business policies.

Rumours grant Sinhanew jobIt was expected that Varesh Sinha,

who was given two extensions as chiefsecretary before he retired last month,would be given a post-retirement job im-mediately after superannuation. Hencethere was much speculation last weekabout Sinha getting a job in the centralgovernment. But that did not happen.Now the rumours say that he may be ap-pointed as chairman of a key PSU.

TRUE LIES

New Super CM?

Gandhinagar: Dr DineshSharma, mayor of Lucknow

and the newin-charge ofthe GujaratBJP, in hisfirst visit tothe state, metparty leaders

from all the districts and al-so did the formality of mak-ing the chief minister Anan-diben Patel and state partypresident R C Faldu mem-bers again to mark the be-ginning of a new member-ship drive.

Sharma, who is also thenational in-charge of theBJP’s national membershipdrive, said that the target inGujarat is to increase partymembership by at least

three times by March 31,2015.

“Gujarat BJP’s organiza-tional setup is the model forthe party but there is lot ofscope. BJP is aggressivelygoing ahead with the mem-bership drive in all states,even at those places wherethe party doesn’t haveenough presence. We expecta quantum jump in the mem-bership across the country.Currently, BJP has 43 lakhregistered members andaround 1 lakh active mem-bers,” Sharma said.

“I plan to visit all the dis-tricts of Gujarat in the nextfew days. The party can rep-licate the initiatives takenby Gujarat BJP and the Guja-rat government in otherparts of the country,” he add-ed.

Ahmedabad: While GujaratUrja Vikas Nigam Ltd(GUVNL) has moved a propos-al to Gujarat Electricity Regu-latory Commission (GERC) tohike power tariff by Rs 0.37 perunit to recover fuel charges, asimilar proposal by TorrentPower Ltd (TPL) has been puton hold by GERC.

TPL had submitted data ofpower purchase during sec-ond quarter (July-August–September) along with calcu-lation of fuel and power pur-chase price adjustment(FPPPA) to be charged to con-sumers of Ahmedabad andSurat from their electricitybills of Oct-Nov-Dec 2014. TheFPPPA for second quarter has

been calculated at Rs 2.20 perunit which includes base priceof Rs 1.23 in addition to FPPPAfor Q2 at Rs 0.97.

GERC has directed TPLnot to increase FPPPA chargesduring this quarter and con-tinue with existing FPPPAcharges of Rs 1.88 per unit.Therefore, there will not beany burden on consumers forthe time being.

In response to TOI query,TPL said, “For the currentquarter, GERC has directedTPL to continue recovery ofFPPPA charges at the samelevel as in the previous quar-ter.” According to industry in-siders, power purchase cost(PPC) has increased from Rs4.98 to Rs. 5.49 (51 paise perunit) compared to PPC of Q1.

Torrent not to hikepower tariff for now

IN THE COMPANY OF GIANTS Yogesh Chawda

Mahouts take a nap under watchful eyes of their elephants in the city

Amid the buzz about theneed to create smart vil-lages, Indian Institute ofTechnology, Gandhinagar,(IIT-Gn) conducted a work-shop on ‘How Design CanChange the Ecosystem ofRural India’ at the ‘Designfor a Billion’ InternationalConference on Sunday. AUS firm, which has suc-cessfully installed a newvariant of portable solarcookers in a large numberof villages in Orissa, Jhark-hand and Rajasthan, madea live presentation on howthe system can be repli-cated in other rural partsof the country. The in-novators had observedthat almost 87% of fam-ilies in rural northwest In-dia depend on firewood for

fuel. Women walk 2.5km aday to collect firewood.Smoke leads to chronicbronchitis and respiratoryinfections. Now, these canbe minimized by using thisalternative energy sourcewhich is different fromconventional solar cook-ers.

Science Day today: No-vember 10 is celebrated asthe World Science Day forPeace and Development.Science City and GujaratCouncil on Science & Tech-nology (GUJCOST) will cel-ebrate the day with a num-ber of activities, includinga session on science edu-cation for sustainable fu-ture, scientist and experttalk, quiz competitions forstudents and visits to vari-ous halls of science in thepremises. The celebrationwill also take place at 33community science cen-tres across the state.

CITY DIGEST

Eco-friendlyvillage designsdiscussed

Ahmedabad: The Institute of Infrastructure Technolo-gy Research and Management (IITRAM) has signed anagreement with the industries commissionerate, theGovernment of Gujarat, Siemens Industry Software (In-dia), and Designtech Systems Ltd to create skilled man-power for sustaining the industrial growth.

It will establish a centre of excellence (CoE) to fosterresearch and innovation in all branches of engineering.At the CoE, students will be trained to use ultra-modernmachinery. TNN

Centre for creating skilledmanpower planned

BJP’s Gujarat in-chargelaunches membership drive

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: JainInternational TradeOrganization’s (JITO)Ahmedabad chapter on Sundayheld its sixth annual generalmeeting along with “FocusJITO”, a bi-annual mega event ofthe organization. Hemant Shahtook over as the new presidentof the Ahmedabad chapter atthe function. A slew of activitieswas also undertaken as part ofthe event, which includelaunching of long-term megaproject JITO SarvodayaFoundation — a scheme whichwill provide financial assistanceas a grant or loan to the lessprosperous Jains for medicaltreatment, small business andeducation, formal opening ofJITO Games 2014 andannouncement of JITOMatrimonial Meet. JITOAhmedabad has membershipstrength of more than 3,000. TNN

Hemant Shah newJITO president

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

In This Pol, Parents Fine Kids For Littering

Ankur.Tewari@timesgroup.com

All healthy habits begin at home. And here, the cleanliness mantra is im-bibed by kids. At Raghasutariya ni

Pol in Khadia, parents teach their kids to live by the golden rule — respect personal hygiene and the cleanliness of pub-

lic places.In fact, parents re-

buke children if they are found littering. For one month, kids lose out on pocket money and are fined Rs 5.

“Leading by ex-ample, parents them-selves clean the en-tire neighbourhood

once a week,” said Ajay Prajapati of the pol. He said his society has set up a committee which meets once a

month to discuss the anti-litter strategy and problems faced by residents.

“We have to practice what we preach. We don’t wait for AMC workers. We clean our area ourselves,” he said.

“We also motivate our kids to shun plastic bags so that gutter lines are not choked. We also organize painting and es-say competitions to help kids conceptualize sanitation plans and put them into reality,” he added. According to another resident Neha Shahhim, “When we accompany our children for disposing of litter in bins and

teach them that waste needs to be thrown safely, they will learn never to litter on roads.”

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Email us at sanitationsatyagraha

@gmail.comToI Sanitation Satyagraha

Have a sanitation idea? Get in touch! You can also write/share pictures to highlight problems

Smart Thinking Can Trigger Swachch Revolution

‘Yes you can, with garbage cans’● Rather than continually utilizing a lot of workforce and money, the authorities must place big garbage cans at regular intervals throughout the city streets. Safai kamwalas would dump all their garbage into these cans which the AMC can pick up daily or at least once in two days | SAMYAK JHAVERI

● “Cleanliness is Godliness”. This is not a mere slogan but a mantra to be followed by those who believe in god and those who preach about god in their religious discources. Indian saints, sadhus, priests and maulanas are known to have huge followings in urban and rural areas across the nation. Unlike politicians, their

preaching are aptly heard and religiously followed by the audience. It would, therefore, be a very helpful gesture on their part if they make it sure to invariably devote a good time of their discourse to plead for cleanliness. They can do research and quote from authentic teachings of religions about the virtues of cleanliness | R U ASNANI

● People throw cigars, junk foods etc on roads. This unhygienic practice spawns diseases such as swine flu. Also, AMC workers while collecting garbage smoke cigarettes which is unacceptable. It will take much effort to achieve the goal of cleanliness | NANU SHARAD

Raghasutariya ni Pol in Khadia

READERS’ RESPONSES

Ways to inculcate clean habits in your child

➤ Practise what you preach

➤ Ask your kids to create a cleanliness scrapbook and suggest ways to keep the area clean. Let them be creative

➤ Reward them for innovative ideas

➤ Narrate inspiring stories of waste warriors

RIGHT THINGS, RIGHT TIME

Broom not spared, child not spoilt