Not just the common man, even big govt fears encroachment of land

Private guards for sarkari assets

You and I are not the only ones worried about our private properties being encroached upon. It is learnt that the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is thinking of hiring a private security agency to protect vacant government land, bungalows, and flats from encroachment. The Central Public Works Department has been given the task of deploying private security guards, preferably ex-serviceman, for this. A security agency will be hired for a year and it deploy such guards on vacant properties round the clock. The agency will be responsible for their conduct.

Change side, launch attack 

The bonhomie between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls evaporated soon after their alliance in Uttar Pradesh was routed by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Now, in the run-up to the by-elections to 11 UP Assembly seats, some leaders of the erstwhile partner parties have crossed over to the other side, launching attacks on their previous organisation. In a recent move, former BSP state president Dayaram Pal joined the SP in the presence of his new party chief, Akhilesh Yadav, in Lucknow. Pal has since sharpened his attack on BSP supremo Mayawati for her purported authoritarian attitude. He said he was not allowed to give his suggestions when he was in the BSP; now he is free to share his thoughts in the Yadav-led SP.

The 'excellent' rejected

The government of Madhya Pradesh, run by the Congress, seems determined to change the decisions taken by the previous regime. It recently held over the state government’s Excellence Awards, instituted by the earlier Bharatiya Janata Party government in 2008. These awards are given to the best-performing bureaucrats and institutions. Why were they held over? The current regime thinks some officers are still close to former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and a list prepared by them is bound to be biased. So when the first list of probables was presented to Chief Minister Kamal Nath (pictured), he rejected it out of hand. Now the government will go through the selection process all over again. It is considering a name change for the awards too.