Politicians, bureaucrats tank up, you and I paly
Petrol flows free and abundant for politicians and bureaucrats in the country.
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One
must be an elected representative or a babu in India to ensure immunity
from repeated fuel shocks. For them, petrol flows free and abundant. In
an economy that's slowed to a crawl and with the rupee in freefall,
containing the national fuel bill is an imperative . A curfew hour for
filling stations is a proposed remedy. A fuel quota for the public is
another. But this punishes you and me. Why not shut the tap on petrol
profligacy? Step in and do something where petrol flows like water?
Sample this. The Madhya Pradesh CM and his ministers get 250 litres of petrol and diesel free every month. Bureaucrats explain why this is notional and a mere formality. The CM and ministers have a large number of vehicles assigned to them. These are drawn from different departments. Private taxis are often drafted in. "It's difficult to calculate how much fuel ministers guzzle. They use so many cars from different sources. If you're asking me how much fuel a minister consumes , I'd say it's unlimited. There's no cap," a babu says.
What of the babudom in MP? It's a relatively modest story here, but not entirely unimpressive. Class I and Class II officers get 55 litres a month each for offi cial work. It's an open secret that government cars are seen outside shopping malls ferrying families of bureaucrats . "Families of mantris and babus use government cars. Everyone knows," says Pushan Bhattacharya, a Bhopal trade union leader. States like Goa have made a half-hearted attempt to work around this problem. A pittance of Rs 500 is deducted from a secretary or a head of department's pay every month, if he uses his offi cial car for personal work.
Sample this. The Madhya Pradesh CM and his ministers get 250 litres of petrol and diesel free every month. Bureaucrats explain why this is notional and a mere formality. The CM and ministers have a large number of vehicles assigned to them. These are drawn from different departments. Private taxis are often drafted in. "It's difficult to calculate how much fuel ministers guzzle. They use so many cars from different sources. If you're asking me how much fuel a minister consumes , I'd say it's unlimited. There's no cap," a babu says.
What of the babudom in MP? It's a relatively modest story here, but not entirely unimpressive. Class I and Class II officers get 55 litres a month each for offi cial work. It's an open secret that government cars are seen outside shopping malls ferrying families of bureaucrats . "Families of mantris and babus use government cars. Everyone knows," says Pushan Bhattacharya, a Bhopal trade union leader. States like Goa have made a half-hearted attempt to work around this problem. A pittance of Rs 500 is deducted from a secretary or a head of department's pay every month, if he uses his offi cial car for personal work.
RAHUL KUMAR GUPTA
PGDM
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