Railways under pressure

Though surveys conducted at the second anniversary of the Modi sarkar rate the railways as having performed commendably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi isn’t, if leaks anything to go by, totally impressed with the ministry’s performance.

At a recent infrastructure review meeting Mr Modi is said to have taken rail babus to task for only completing redevelopment of one railway station, at Bhopal, despite the target of 400 stations.

Beyond the meeting with Mr Modi, rail officials were left red-faced when a new escalator inaugurated at the Mathura railway station developed a snag during an inspection by Mr Mittal. Though an enquiry has been ordered, the bigger challenge for rail babus is to measure up to Mr Modi and Mr Prabhu’s high expectations. Now Mr Mittal has issued internal instructions for “immediate action” to show “perceptible progress” before the next review meeting. The Prime Minister’s Office would be watching the progress keenly. But we guess that these theories may also be the result of pre-Cabinet reshuffle jockeying. It’s been spotted before and Mr Prabhu remains one of the most efficient and honest mantris, on most other indicators in this city.

U.P. Racing against time As Uttar Pradesh moves inexorably towards next year’s state Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party leader and state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is feeling the pressure, and making his babus feel it too! Babu-watchers have noted a sense of urgency in the government as it races to complete developmental projects.

The recent mass transfer of more than 100 IAS, IPS and state service officials is being seen as Mr Yadav’s way of reminding bureaucrats that time is running out fast. Sources say that the chief minister has set up a Project Monitoring Group, which has apparently met more than 40 times in the past few months, to fast-track projects and meet deadlines. The group comprises chief secretary Alok Ranjan, principal secretary for finance Rahul Bhatnagar, and the chief minister’s secretary, Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma. It is reportedly overseen by Mr Yadav himself.

There is a lot at stake and, sources say, the group’s efforts have ensured that 80 per cent of the government’s projects are “on track”. Babus are now under tremendous pressure to pull out all stops and get working or face the chief minister’s wrath. For now this carrot-and-stick policy seems to be working, but Mr Yadav knows he cannot afford to slacken the pace. So it’s nose to the grindstone for UP’s babus — at least until poll time!

Exit babus, enter netas It seems that Karnataka’s chief minister Siddaramaiah has little use for babus in his administration. Recently, the state government forced out eight IAS and IPS officers as directors in the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and State Road Transport Corporation, and replaced them with non-babus aka political appointees. Only four senior IAS officers continue as directors in these two companies: Ekroop Caur, R.K. Kataria, E.V. Ramana Reddy and Ritesh Kumar Singh.

Sources say that the chief minister is under pressure to accommodate Congress Party workers in various government institutions and that Mr Siddaramaiah has been filling senior positions in many civic bodies in Bengaluru with party workers instead of babus. Among the babus shown the exit recently are P.S. Kharola, T. Sham Bhat, Anjum Parwez, B.N.S. Reddy, B.A. Mahesh, Biswajit Mishra and others. Apparently, the state government has defended its decision to appoint political nominees by claiming that the newcomers have “expertise” and “common sense”. It’s not a view favoured by many, including the increasingly disgruntled ranks of Karnataka’s IAS and IPS officers.