SENIOR officials at the Rail Bhawan have finally discovered that they are no longer under the dominance of an IAS officer. With former railway minister Lalu Prasad’s all powerful officer on special duty (OSD) Sudhir Kumar (See Picture) leaving the Rail Bhwan to join as a joint secretary in the ministry of power, top railway officials have regained the lost ground and become hyper-active to demonstrate their abilities to the new railway minister Mamata Banerjee.
In fact, Indian Railways with about 15 lakh strong employees is the only government department which is not controlled by an IAS officer. Yet, during the last five years, the minister bestowed all power to 1982-batch Bihar cadre IAS Sudhir Kumar who in turn acted like a CEO of a company and micro-managed the show. In fact, he took many a bold decision to script the turnaround saga of Indian railways. Whereas Mr Prasad just monitored the macro issue and took only the politically sensitive decisions such as not hiking the passenger fare, it was Mr Kumar who remained a backseat driver to achieve a profit of whopping Rs 90,000 cr (about $18 billion) for the railways during the last five years.
Along with Shagun Mehrotra, Mr Kumar finally penned a book titled “Bankruptcy to Billions: How the Indian Railways Transformed In Four Years” to share the secret of success.
As the new minister has already zeroed in a Central services officer as her OSD, the Rail babus don’t need to worry a repeat of an IAS dominating the Indian Railways any longer.
Babus in demand: Job at Central Electricity Authority
The Central Electricity Authority under the ministry of power urgently requires the suitable candidates for filling up the post of Member (Planning) and Member (Economic & Commercial) in the revised scale of Rs.37400-67000 with a grade pay of Rs 12,000. They would be given ex-officio status of additional secretary to the government of India.
The omnipresent IAS officers spell doom for many government departments. The IPS is also not far behind. With the blessings of their political mentors many of them are now in plump non-policing jobs. Most of these IPS officers run their organization like an SHO of a police station. In Delhi itself, several IPS officers heading literary and social organizations are now indulged in largescale corruption with little regard for the nitty-gritty of these largely service oriented organization. In these days of hightened terrorism, how far is it fair to appoint IPS officers in non-policing job, is something that urgently needs to be addressed by the dynamic Home Minister P. Chidambaram. Mr. Chidambaram, are you listening?
ReplyDeleteIAS lobbies will always remain very strong
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