Spaced out

From this week onwards, government departments will list various issues in presentations to be made to the new prime minister. But, as a finance ministry official points out, none of them will highlight one critical problem - an acute shortage of office space. This shortage is common to all government departments, and particularly in the finance ministry which has been forced to put up makeshift cabins in the corridors to accommodate officers' staff. Even joint secretary-level officers are made to share rooms sometimes as a result.