‘Ignorant’ commissioner
The days of Satish Tewary as Principal Secretary, Land Reforms department, and Land Reforms Commissioner seem to be numbered as the state government is all set to replace him by an official from Delhi. Officials and employees complain of Tewary’s inefficiency in handling a delicate department like the one he has been appointed to lead. “When officials go to him, he asks such weird questions that they are taken aback, wondering how a commissioner could be so ignorant of matters relating to his department,” an official could be heard complaining.

Strict boss at Dept of Consumer Affairs
Principal Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, P K Agarwal, who was recently transferred from Land and Land Reforms department, has become a terror for the employees of his new department. He has taken several measures to enforce discipline and punctuality among them. Employees who used to come at noon or even later are now forced to come by 10 am. The reason being attributed to it is that Agarwal, the former land reforms commissioner, had so much of work in his previous department and that had little time for anything else. At Consumers Affairs, Agarwal has much less work and this gives him enough time to look around and see what was happening in his department and instill discipline in the employees.

When a noble attempt backfires
Inspired by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, an official of Raj Bhavan had decided to impose a voluntary powercut at his official quarters, a day after the Governor started the practice. In the next two days, he regretted his decision. Raj Bhavan quarters, which hardly see load-shedding, witnessed a four-hour powercut the next day and another five-hour powercut the day after. The hapless official had received a sound dressing down from his wife for taking to such penance and then getting it published in newspapers.

All for duty at Eden Gardens
It is a change of mind of sorts for the frustrated and overworked personnel of the Kolkata Police. Instead of shirking duty, all of them — from the potbellied constable to the ‘star-studded’ officers — want to be on duty at the Eden Gardens during the IPL nail-biters. Initially, apart from the commissioner and the deputy commissioner (Headquarters), only additional commissioners could be seen leading their men inside the stadium. These days, all additional commissioners, assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners want to be a part of the security arrangements inside. The coveted duty not only allows them to see a match from close quarters, but also enjoy the fun with Mumbai and Kolkata actors dazzling the field. Even officers-in-charge of police stations, departments and constables are now elbowing each other for a duty at Eden.