Candid Notes

Friday, 04 June 2021 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun

Hopeful Harak

The clout of powerful cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat which remained rather diminished during the reign of TSR- I, is on the rise ever since the central leadership of saffron party decided to replace Trivendra with Tirath in the Himalayan state. The increased authority of the mercurial minister is evident in his words and actions these days. Apart from regaining control over the cash rich board meant for welfare of construction labourers from where he was unceremoniously removed by TSR- I, the minister is making bold announcements about the departments under him. To add to it the talk of BJP toying with an idea of adopting ‘Assam Model’ in Uttarakhand has brought spring in the steps of Harak Singh Rawat and others Congress turncoats who are now in the saffron party’s fold. In Assam, the BJP had fought the election without projecting any one as its CM candidate and anointed Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congress stalwart on the chair of CM after winning the Assam battle. It is clear that the ‘Sarma’ factor and the Assam model are making Harak, who has never hidden his desire for the coveted post of CM, hopeful.  

Making Moolah

The call made by the Prime Minister for finding opportunities in the disaster ‘Apda Mai Avsar’ seems to have been taken very earnestly by a five-star hospital of Dehradun. Grabbing the opportunity created by shortage of vaccines in government centres, this hospital started a vaccination camp in association with a high end club of the valley. Gauging by the huge turnout and serpentine queues witnessed at the camp where anxious people are willing to shell out premium in addition to the charge fixed by the government one can understand the business idea has been a hit. The cash register of this corporate style hospital has been kept ringing loudly by the pandemic of the Covid-19, in fact so deafeningly loud that all the complaints of mismanagement and shoddiness in treatment have remained subdued. Taking a cue from the mantra of extracting maximum profit from the management, some of the staff members also sneaked off with the valuables and expensive medicines of patients admitted in the hospital. With experts predicting a third wave of pandemic one can rest assured that the gravy train would chug on without any halt.

Airport quandary

A highly knowledgeable minister of Tirath Singh Rawat cabinet created an uncomfortable situation for his government recently by declaring that an international airport would come up in Haridwar. The erudite minister with a worldwide following announced that the airport would become operational in the year 2030 and directed the DM of Haridwar to scout for a piece of 5 km x 0.5 km land from where mega machines like Airbus 380 and Boeing 777 can operate. He also talked about the employment the project would generate and said that the international airport would add to the grandeur of the holy city of Haridwar. However his flight of fancy on a Greenfield airport crash-landed soon after takeoff as a red faced government clarified that it has no plans for an airport in Haridwar district.