Room with a view

Coal block allotments may have sent the government into a tizzy, but in North Block, another kind of allotment is causing some anxiety. Financial Services Secretary D K Mittal has been allotted a room (earlier occupied by Joint Secretary Expenditure Madhulika Sukul) in North Block, close to Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s office. This is in addition to Mittal’s office in nearby Jeevan Deep building. The official explanation for the allotment is that it is purely for convenience since Mittal has to attend several meetings a day in the finance ministry so even the short journey to and from his office in congested central Delhi was a waste of time. Some bureaucrats, however, are reading more into this. That’s because till recently, Mittal’s North Block camp was a room shared with Disinvestment Secretary Haleem Khan; now he has two offices to himself.