Illustration: Sourav Roy
Call of duty
A few women police constables in Chennai were tasked with an unusual duty recently: Taking care of the ailing mother of a senior police officer. The officer, in the rank of ACP, had asked a sub-inspector (SI) to assign women police constables to a private hospital to look after his mother. The SI left no stone unturned in pleasing his senior officer and assigned three women constables on eight-hour shift rotation to wait on the old lady.
Water woes vs ego clash
When Tiruppur city was reeling under an acute water crisis, its mayor and former mayor (also an elected representative) were locked in a war of words over when water should be supplied daily or alternate days. The hostility they showed towards each other during a review meeting recently was rather shocking to officials and journalists. The latest bone of 'petty' contention is whose name should figure first on official invites.
'Abductors' in Nilgiris
Recently, one suspect in the notorious Kodanad heist-cum-murder case was whisked away from The Nilgiris by a few persons at night. Social media was abuzz with claims that he had been abducted. It turned out later that the abductors were police personnel in plain clothes and that the suspect was taken to Salem in connection with a property case.
In effect, the police forced the suspect to violate his bail condition that he shouldn't leave The Nilgiris. Also, the hurry with which the police acted on a petty civil case raised many an eyebrow.
No more 'old boys' club'?
What is brewing at Tamil Nadu's premier planning agency? The existing staff, considered the 'old boys' club', feel left out while 30 new recruits get all the perks. The assistant planners and planning assistants, recruited early this year, are entitled to the latest gadgets and a direct access to the boss.
What's more worrying for them is that even a chief-planner-cadre official is being forced to work on enumerating 22-year-old buildings. It's learnt that several senior staff have now opted for voluntary retirement.
In public's good books
Is it okay to destroy a library with a vast collection of books to build metro rail? This was a poser from a councillor during one of the first orientation meetings held for Chennai corporation councillors. He wasn't ready to accept the excuses that metro and libraries didn't come under the administrative purview of the corporation.
"Elected representatives will have to live with a frayed reputation if books are destroyed while being shifted to a temporary space," he said. The persistence paid off and the Chennai metro has now agreed to wait until a new building for the library is constructed. The corporation has already identified a parcel of land in the same zone.
(With inputs from MP Saravanan, R Kirubakaran, C Shivakumar, Sahaya Novinston Lobo and Subashini Vijayakumar. Collated by Sreejith PM)
