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Dec 13, 1999
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Cyber
Capital
Delhi:
Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit wants her Government to get cyber savvy, and fast. Her target:
total computerisation by 2003. Already, a special secretary (Info-Tech) is
in place. The new secretariat building being readied will be hooked up
with her home-office and the nine district commissioners and the 27
subdivisional magistrates. Also, key secretaries, ministers and the
various civic bodies and departments will be able to keep her abreast
about ongoing projects and public feedback. Besides, over 100 cyber kiosks
are also in the pipeline. The only snag: the 70 MLAs, most of whom have
never used a computer. A crash course is on the anvil, but apparently not
many are keen to go back to the classroom.Rubber
Faith
Lucknow: New
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta has total faith in vastu.
Soon after he took over, a vastu shastri told him that if he did not allow
visitors to enter his drawing room wearing leather shoes or slippers he
would complete his term. Promptly, Gupta's son Rajiv Lochan, who
apparently calls the shots in the new dispensation, ordered 26 pairs of
rubber chappals for their Kalidas Marg residence. Now visitors switch to
chappals when entering the drawing room of Gupta, whose other habit is to
eat only food prepared by wife Nirmala.
Flying Risk
Calcutta: After
a deputy, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu is set to get a new
chopper. Tenders had already been invited for a Rs 25 crore flying
machine, but the process was speeded up after the chopper that usually
flew Basu crashed recently. The chief minister, of course, wasn't on
board. The wrecked machine was 17 years old and didn't conform to VVIP
security requirements: it had a single engine, whereas the guidelines
stipulate a twin-engine. The delay in acquiring a new chopper centred on
the debate over the choice of the flying machine. The file on the new
chopper purchase had been lying with the chief minister's office. With the
crash, it is finally moving.
OK 'Kaka'
Mumbai:
Mumbai: From the pen he
carries to his now exquisitely-tailored white shirts to his green Toyota
Land Cruiser, Sharad Pawar always provides grist to the curiosity of
Mumbai journalists. So last fortnight, they were surprised to see
"Kaka" -- as the NCP chief is called by a section of the media
-- drive around in a white Fiat Siena, a distinct comedown from the Land
Cruiser. A week later the answer became clear when the General
Administration Department put in an application for buying 27 new Fiat
Sienas for the ministers whose Contessas needed replacement. As one
minister close to Pawar put it: "Kaka was test-driving the car. Now
that he is satisfied we will buy them." When they find the money for
it, that is.
CONFESSIONAL
Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna is caught in the Almatti dam
controversy. Having met A.B. Vajpayee last Sunday, he hopes to settle in
Krishna water dispute amicably.
It's Krishna versus Krishna now. The
Cauvery issue is quiet for the moment but you have fresh trouble with the
Almatti dam controversy.
Krishna versus Krishna, that's exactly what the prime minister told me
when we met him on November 28. But we are only asking for our share. We
are sticking to our stand of raising the height of the dam because that
was decided long ago.
How did the affidavit by the Centre,
which restricts raising the height of the dam, come into the picture?
That is still a mystery. I don't know how that came.
Do you think Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is trying to armtwist the Vajpayee
Government because the TDP is part of the NDA?
I don't think so. I've known Vajpayee for nearly 40 years and he is
not a man who can easily be armtwisted.
You are talking about electronic
governance and video-conferencing. How does it help?
I am happy that within a month we have been able to connect 12
districts for video-conferencing. Now the collectors cannot hide anything
even if they want to.
Some say that you are simply aping
Naidu.
I don't want to ape anybody or anything. My first brush with computers
was in the '80s and I want to use the advantages of hi-tech for the
benefit of the people.
Some say you are a man in a hurry?
Five years is too little a time. The initial euphoria of chief
ministership is over and it's time to get down to business. But there's
much to do and so little time. And that's where computers really help.
-Stephen
David
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