It is safe to presume that there has hardly been a dull moment at the palatial Raj Nivas since the country’s first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi moved in as Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory.
In between convening meetings with officials of various Government departments, hosting high-profile visitors from Delhi and redressing grievances of the public at the five-day-a-week Open House sessions, there has also been a steady stream of courtesy calls by people from all walks of life.
And, visitors haven’t come empty-handed; some have come with ornate bouquets, others with mementoes. However, what must have been a pleasant surprise for the Lt. Governor was the souvenir that the group of artists representing the Pondicherry State Artists’ Society brought along while making a courtesy call at the Raj Nivas recently.
Ms. Bedi could not help smiling at the portrait of herself that the artists—A.B. Ibert, Selvam Emil and Muthusastha —had brought as a gift.
She wondered what the medium of the work was only to trigger a passionate explanation on the materials and the colour scheme used in the portrait. This surely was a souvenir straight from the heart.
When CM said sorry for 10-minute delay
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, who has promised to meet mediapersons every Saturday, was more than a tad apologetic at turning up late for the first such exchange.
This was also the first interaction with the press in Puducherry after what he termed a fruitful visit to Delhi where he pushed the case for more funds for the UT.
What was a pleasant surprise for the scribes was that the Chief Minister did not hesitate one bit to express his apology for being late by 10 minutes at the press conference.
Immediately on his arrival, he said, “I am sorry. I am late by 10 minutes. However, I am not late by one hour,” he said, with a broad smile in an apparent reference to the style of functioning of his predecessor.
Press persons could not believe that a Chief Minister would actually tender an apology for being late by 10 minutes. Perhaps Mr. Narayanasamy wanted to observe punctuality as far as possible.
On this count alone, he has a chance of endearing himself to the presspersons where scheduled meetings in the not too distant past have been delayed by as much as two hours.
Involve public in mock drills
Are people taking mock drills with the seriousness they deserve? The question was hard to evade while observing the mock rescue drill organised by the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management on Sunday. Though police, doctors, corporation workers and fire service staff were rushing to rescue people, the residents of Pillaichavady watched everything with amusement. Some questioned whether there was a cyclone coming while others carried on with their work smiling at the drama unfolding in their area. It looked like the people were completely left out of the mock drill except for the few who volunteered to act as victims of cyclone ‘Megh.’ The efforts of the administration would be fructified if public were also involved in the process and are also trained to prepare themselves to encounter disasters without just leaving the job to the government staff and volunteers.
By M. Dinesh Varma,
S. Prasad and S. Senthalir
