Bansal's saving habit

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been exhorting government officials to control expenditure and if there’s one minister who is taking it to heart, it is Railway Minister Pawan Bansal. He makes sure all his personal correspondence is copied on the fair side of used paper, switches off his office lights himself when he exits rather than leaving it to a staffer and is said to be the first to turn off a dripping tap. Given that Bansal also did a stint in the finance ministry as minister of state, he probably has a better understanding of the need to control costs than almost anybody outside North Block.