Friday, 08 April 2022 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Hurt pride
By ordering an inquiry and cancelling the transfer of Associate Professor at GDMC, Dr Nidhi Uniyal, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami managed to calm down a wave of anger among the people agitated over the blatant misuse of authority and insult of lady doctor but the entire episode exposed the dark underbelly of the system. Those versed with the functioning of the health department know it pretty well that it is very common for the government doctors to pay a visit to the homes of top Babus and ministers on being called. This practice has been smoothly going on for many years with the docile doctors preferring to ignore the offensive behaviour of the family members of the VIPs for obvious reasons. This time the trouble started when Dr Uniyal objected to the rude behaviour of the wife of the top Babu of the department which resulted in her prompt transfer. The doctor decided to take things head on and resigned and within hours the episode was all over the social media, sending the state government scurrying for cover. It is learnt that the lady doctor is adamant on her decision to leave the job but the officer of the Medical College Dehradun who acted on the verbal orders and asked Dr Uniyal to visit the house of the bureaucrat is one who is most worried about the inquiry which is being conducted by another bureaucrat.
Mission Cooperative
The unearthing of a major scam in recruitment of peons in the cooperative banks of the Himalayan state has come as a major embarrassment for Dhami government. Ironically the lid over gross irregularities in the appointments was blown up when wards of some influential people failed to find a place in the merit (?) list released by the bank. Hassled by the unfolding of the scam within days of assuming office for an unprecedented second consecutive term in the state, the BJP government ordered an inquiry and suspended some officers. The list of selected candidates includes children, close relatives of some officers of the bank and persons having blessings of politicians. After the whole thing was publicly exposed, the government ordered an inquiry and the entire process of recruitment was stalled. However the shrewd Babus of the bank managed to give joinings to the selected candidates on the very date the inquiry was ordered by the government which has opened the option of possible intervention and relief from the court for them.
Setback of sorts
The recent decision of the education department to set in place a merit based transparent system to fill the vacant posts of Coordinators in Samagra Shikha Abhiyan has come as a bolt from blue for the leaders of the teacher unions and those having connections with the high and mighty. Since these posts are based in the education directorate, Dehradun and all district headquarters, the leaders among the teaching fraternity consider their inherent right over them. The education department too has a past record of appointing influential teachers on the posts of coordinators. This time however the hopes of these influential teachers were shattered when on the directive of the new education minister the department decided to have a merit based system of selection on these posts.
