Candid Notes 

Friday, 20 September 2024 | Gajendra Singh Negi 

Dashing DM

Savin Bansal, the new district magistrate of Dehradun, has caught everyone’s attention with his unique style of functioning. The young and energetic DM has made it a habit to make surprise inspections of the government offices and hospitals in different parts of the district which has made the employees who are habitual laggards and latecomers alert.

The pictures of the DM standing in a queue in the district hospital, riding pillion with the SSP to check traffic situation in the city and raiding booze shops found overrating as a commoner has endeared the young officer to Doon denizens.  However, the onus will be on him to prove he really means business.  If he fails all his seemingly serious efforts might be dubbed as mere publicity gimmicks.

 Kedarnath dilemma

Recent utterances of the State Congress president Karan Mahara have again exposed the yawning fissures in the State unit of the faction- ridden party. In a candid interview, the flamboyant leader minced no words in criticising the former MLA from Kedarnath Manoj Rawat for his absence from the recent 280 km long Kedarnath Pratishta Raksha Yatra for its major part and only engaging in Ganesh Parikrama   (obliquely referring to former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal).

It is thus clear that he will oppose tooth and nail the candidature of Rawat for the ensuing Kedarnath bypoll and is likely to throw his weight behind the mercurial Harak Singh Rawat or the district Congress president Kunwar Sajwan for the party ticket from this seat.  Things will be interesting as former chief minister Harish Rawat and Godiyal are all set to back Manoj Rawat’s candidature. Former PCC chief Pritam Singh and the Leader of Opposition in Assembly Yashpal Arya too are expected to support Manoj Rawat. In this situation, the battle for Congress ticket in Kedarnath is all set to ignite a fresh round of internal bickering in the grand old party.

Ravaged roads

The ongoing spell of heavy monsoon rains has wreaked havoc on the road network in the Himalayan State. Hundreds of roads in the State are either blocked or damaged badly due to the persistent landslides and subsidence.  The much-hyped all -weather road project- completed with a colossal sum of Rs 12,000 crore- has bore the maximum brunt of the monsoon fury. Large stretches of this purported technological marvel have got severely damaged by the rain- triggered landslides, making travelling on it a dangerous adventure. Interestingly, the old small link roads have proved handy this time again as stranded passengers used them to reach their destinations. Apart from damaging the national and state highways, the rain wrath unleashed problems for the roads in the cities and towns of the State, including Dehradun. The compulsion of the city dwellers to move on the crater- laden roads is, however, ensuring roaring business for the owners of automobile repair shops and orthopaedic clinics.