Shock Therapy To Stop Leaks At Power Ministry

The power ministry may soon come out with a manual listing toiletries and other sundry goods one needs in jail. For, the ministry's bureaucrats have suddenly become the most potential occupants of Tihar.

Power secretary P Abraham has issued a circular warning officials against talking to newsmen.

The dreaded Officials Secrets Act would be invoked against the erring officials, the circular cautions. The circular comes at a time when the government is claiming an unprecedented transparency in its working.

It also comes at a time when the Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into a large number of contracts awarded by the ministry or the public sector undertakings under its administrative control.

 

Incidentally, the circular also coincides with the last few months of Abraham in the office. Could it be he wants to prevent leakage of certain information that might affect his post-retirement re-deployment as chief of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Abraham's reasons apart, the circular has put the fear of death among all the bureaucrats in Shrama Shakti Bhavan. They freeze at the very sight of journalists.

While Abraham could justifiably claim the credit for planning the power development of the country in a manner that, as per his own confession, candle-making is going to be the most profitable business of the future, he would also be credited with using the biggest-ever brush to sweep the ministry's filth under the carpet.