Car Fair
The opening day of the ongoing budget session of the state assembly on March 9 was nothing less than a car fair.
The entire Rilbong Zigzag road was flooded with cars of various makes. You name it we have it! The cars are parked all along the road side since there is not enough parking space within the temporary assembly premises. Inside the Brookside Mansion compound where the assembly session is on it was a car extravaganza.
The line-up of swish SUVs and what have you indicates that our MLAs are upwardly mobile. Or at least our government is. There are no dearth of models on exhibition. The long line up of vehicles parked by the road made it different for ordinary citizens to drive and for pedestrians to negotiate their way on this narrow road.
The drivers and entourage of security personnel on the first day of the budget session though knew how to enjoy themselves. They had a good feast of sweets and curd. A curd and mithai vendor passing by had a good sale that day.
The vendor later shared with his friends that if the budget session was of a longer duration he would be able to make a killing. Somebody rudely told him, “ You will turn everyone into a diabetic.” Looks like, the vendor is an NCP supporter.
The fishy conclave
Never before have so many people, from different villages converged at the Polo Ground, as they did on March 5 this year. Such a huge gathering was last seen when Rahul Gandhi visited Meghalaya in 1988. It is the stuff that political rallies are made of.
This meeting however had nothing to do with politics. It was about economics and livelihoods. And the movers and shakers of this meet were not politicians or political party workers.
They were bureaucrats who have turned the Secretariat on its head. A workforce of several young men and women who are part of the Basin Administrative Team (BAT) are seen moving around multi-tasking and never looking at the clock, unlike the regular government employees who come late and leave early.
A lady staff attached to the Basin Development Project of the Government said she did not understand what convergence was all about until she saw the project at Mawlyngbna where the Soil and Water Conservation Department worked in tandem with Community and Rural Development, Fisheries and Tourism Departments.
She observed that if this is how Government starts functioning then the results will soon be evident and people would be the ultimate winners.
Grahak (Customer) Mitra (Friend) or Foe
Nobody likes to enquire anything from the despondent Grahak Mitra at the SBI Main Branch. Many customers said that the forlorn appearance and unfriendly behavior is ill suited to her post. A customer enquired from the lady where he could submit a certain Challan.
The Grahak Mitra rudely told him, “Go downstairs”. Is this the meaning of Mitra (friend)? The SBI could not have chosen a more unsuitable person for this post. One person was rebuked for asking what the Grahak Mitra said were “insane questions”.
The customer said, “If I knew everything about banking services than I would not need the help of the Grahak Mitra and the bank would not need to appoint one. Many people are murmuring amongst themselves but few have the guts to go to the higher ups.
Most people are compelled to maintain their accounts with SBI because of the government transactions. When this was brought to the notice of a senior staff she was defensive. “We attend to the masses not to the classes do don’t compare us to private banks.” But who is the mass and who is the class here?