Conductors paid back in same coin
Though the state government’s free bus ride scheme drew praise from women passengers some bus conductors are not amused. After reports started doing the rounds about passengers being taunted and abused by MTC bus conductors for the free ride, some women seem to have started paying them back in their own coin.
Recently, when two elderly women boarded a bus at Kaiveli Junction and sought tickets for T Nagar, the conductor mockingly said the women at such ripe age are going to T Nagar to buy vegetables only because the ride was free. “Is this your father’s bus, why are you worried”, retorted the women, setting off peals of laughter in the bus.
Outsourcing: CMD gives pep talk
Saddled with Rs 1.58-lakh-crore debt, Tangedco has decided to outsource a few projects despite opposition from unions. Recently, a group of engineers led by a woman engineer approached Tangedco’s CMD with a request to him to refrain from endorsing the outsourcing policy.
The top bureaucrat, however, gave them an hour-long pep talk on the need to run the utility profitably and solicited their cooperation in reforming the utility’s operations. The disappointed engineers are now discussing their next course of action.
Officials ‘bid’ for top jobs
As the incumbent chief engineer (CE) of water resources department and the CE of public works department are expected to retire in March and April respectively, several officials are getting ready to pull the strings to bag the prestigious posts. Though the posts, as per norms, must be filled only based on seniority, some officials are ready to offer even Rs 1 crore bribe for the posts. Some officials say the ‘bidding price’ may surge as the deadline nears in the coming days.
Docs mint money, patients harried
After receiving complaints about doctors in Tenkasi district government headquarters hospital (GHQH) being involved in private practice during duty hours, the hospital administration warned them and transferred an orthopaedic surgeon to Shengottai GH a few months ago. The doctors, however, continued their private practice. Recently, the joint director of health warned the hospital’s only urologist who skips two hours every day to work in a Tenkasi-based private hospital over his misdemeanour. But he continues with his practice, and poor patients in GHQH are being diverted to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital located 60 km away.
Tippler tussle shows GRP’s colours
An altercation broke out between an inebriated passenger and the travelling ticket inspector (TTI) onboard Rameswaram-Chennai Egmore Sethu Express when the official, who boarded the train Monday early morning in Tiruchy, asked the man sleeping on the TTI’s berth to vacate it. As the train had already left Tiruchy station, the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel onboard told the TTI that they will register a case against the man for abusing him at the next station or Vriddhachalam.
When the train reached Vriddhachalam, the TTI, the tippler and GRP personnel approached the GRP officers there. Interestingly, the Vriddhachalam GRP officers said the complaint has to be registered only in Tiruchy as the altercation happened when the train was in Tiruchy jurisdiction. Following this, the TTI, the passenger and a GRP head constable travelled 120km for two hours all the way back to Tiruchy on another train to register the complaint. While people said the incident exposed the poor management of GRP in dealing with unruly passengers, even top railway officials didn’t know why the GRP insisted on registering the complaint in Tiruchy.
(Contributed by Binita Jaiswal, S Guruvanmikanathan, Thinakaran Rajamani, Jose K Joseph; compiled by Ashutosh Acharya)