NK'S POST

NK SINGH The decision to appoint Sudhi Ranjan Mohanty as the new chief secretary of MP, was taken soon after the Congress returned to power in MP. However, the new government refrained from posting him as Officer On Special Duty, waiting in the wings to take over as CS, as has become customary in recent years.  Mohanty was himself averse to the idea of moving into the hot seat early. Hence official orders were issued at the last hour even as many kept guessing.  But some people did not want to keep guessing. The moment Mohanty's name started making rounds as a probable candidate for the top post, they tried to sabotage his chances.  Soon after the change in the government, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's office started getting petitions to stop Mohanty's appointment as chief secretary, according to a source in AICC.  But those petitions failed to stop Mohanty's resurrection. Apparently, the new Government wanted to make amends for the BJP Government'...

NK SINGH Two additional commissioners of Bhopal Municipal Corporation were all over social media last week after they were unceremoniously packed off to their parent departments. An enquiry committee had found them allegedly guilty of issuing completion certificates to incomplete buildings last year. The certificates helped builders avoid coming under the purview of MP Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). The brazen effort to help builders made RERA chief Anthony de Sa, a former chief secretary of the state, livid and he had lodged a complaint at with the government. The two shunted officers, aggrieved by the corporation’s unilateral decision, gave vent to their anguish in social media. Both of them belong to State Administrative Service and there was an outpouring of sympathy for them from friends and fellow officers. Their main grievance was that they were not heard before pronouncing the verdict. Malika Nigam, among those who were packed off, commented on Fa...

NK SINGH Going through my archive, I came upon a gem. It seems that our esteemed MLA from Bhopal (central), honourable Surendra Nath Singh, is a serial offender. In 1992 police had registered a criminal case against him after BJP’ organisational elections were rocked by violence, hooliganism and street fights. Singh was then the president of Bhopal district BJP. Another accused in the case was former BJP MLA Shailendra Pradhan. Before your jump to wrong conclusion, let me clarify that BJP was in power in Madhya Pradesh at that time! The Chief Minister was the intrepid Sunderlal Patwa. After the registration of criminal cases, the party leadership also came down heavily against half-a-dozen workers involved in a spate of ugly incidents that dented forever the image of BJP as a disciplined party in MP. Patwa, the legendary disciplinarian, died in December 2016. He was a stern administrator, who believed in rule of law and allowed his officers to act without fear or favour. The cr...

Tussle over RERA in MP नरेन्द्र कुमार सिंह देश का पहला रेरा मध्य प्रदेश में बना था. और रेरा के अधिकारों को लेकर सरकार के अन्दर सबसे पहली तकरार भी मध्य प्रदेश में ही चालू हुई है. अफसर गुथ्थम गुथ्था हो रहे हैं और बिल्डरों की बांछे खिली हैं. रेरा अर्थात रियल इस्टेट रेगुलेटरी अथॉरिटी. पिछले साल संसद ने एक क्रन्तिकारी कानून बनाकर बेलगाम मुनाफाखोरी और धोखाधड़ी करने वाले बिल्डरों और रियल इस्टेट एजेंटों की नकेल कसने की कोशिश की. इस कानून का मक्सद था घर खरीदने वालों के हितों की रक्षा करना. साथ ही रेरा के जरिये घरों की कीमत को तथा लेनदेन को पारदर्शी बनाकर काले धन के लिए कुख्यात इस बिज़नेस में अच्छे और साफ़ सुथरे निवेश को बढ़ावा देना. मध्य प्रदेश में रेरा की स्थापना मई २०१७ में हुई. राज्य के भूतपूर्व चीफ सेक्रेटरी अंटोनी डेसा इसके पहले अध्यक्ष बनाये गए. बिल्डरों की आनाकानी और मुकदमेबाजी के बावजूद प्रशासन में उनके इकबाल और रुतबे की वजह से शुरुवाती दौर में रेरा की गाडी सरपट दौड़ी. पर लगता है रेरा का अश्वमेध यज्ञ राज्य सरकार के ही एक तबके को रास नहीं आया. उन्होंने इस सरकारी एजेंसी ...

Light at the end tunnel for home buyers   NK SINGH The project promised to “change the identity” of Bhopal. With 22 floors, Gammon India’s Central Business District in the State capital is the tallest ever high rise of MP. Coming up in downtown Bhopal, the residential-cum-commercial complex is carved out of what once used to be public land. Part of MP Government’s re-densification plan, it was envisaged long before smart city idea came up. Its developers guaranteed “unlimited luxury” and advertised it was not for everyone: “The crème de la crème will be invited to possess it.” Among the people who booked flats are the great and good of the town --- civil servants, doctors, engineers, businessmen. Now 10 years in the making, the project is a towering example of all that is wrong with real estate business in the State. Government allotted land to Gammon in February 2008, a boom period for realty. Under lease conditions, it should have completed by 2013. But slow pro...

An MP cadre IAS officer is "Leader of Planet and Conqueror of Earth" NK SINGH A little known NGO from Indore has come out with a documentary film on the life and time of P. Narhari, a former Collector of Indore. The mesmerised filmmaker is convinced that the IAS officer of 2001 batch was the best thing to have happened to the city after the first steam locomotive arrived in 1893. The 15 minutes biopic starts with eulogising the 42-year-old officer as Leader of Planet, Conqueror of Earth and Creator of New Faith. It is the first ever documentary made on the achievements of a bureaucrat, at least in MP. The film was shot with active participation of the IAS officer and his family members, who posed for the movie, with the sahib straddling his domain like a king. The film leaves no one in any doubt about the protagonist’s greatness. Narhari, it claims, has changed thousands of lives, coming to help of people who have been disappointed everywhere else. He has left ex...