Old Secretariat dons a fresh look

Abhay Singh / TNN / Nov 25, 2005, 02:56 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

The officials concerned were even busy gauging portraits of which national leaders would be in tune with the new regime.

PATNA: The things put in place to give red-carpet welcome to chief minister Nitish Kumar apart, the old secretariat on Thursday had spic and span look, with walls whitewashed, dirty corners having betel spits cleaned, and flower pots everywhere.
The officials concerned were even busy gauging portraits of which national leaders would be in tune with the new regime in various ministerial chambers.
"We were engaged in whitewashing anyway, but after the results came out on Tuesday, and it became apparent that chief minister is going to change, the Public Works Department (PWD) became hyperactive to give a new look to all the state secretariat buildings," said an SDO rank PWD official, willing to remain anonymous.
As it is, a special directive was given to the department to make things look new and different. The officials contacted the contactors concerned on Tuesday, and the workers became busy from the afternoon.

By Thursday noon, everything from towel to the doormat for the CM's chamber was changed. "We worked during day and at night from Tuesday," said contractor Sunil Tiwari, adding: "The change in CM meant the work on big scale. We are happy that we have accomplished it. Biharis are good at working when they want to work."
This may be music to the ears of CM Nitish, who, during election campaign, not only harped on restoring Bihari pride but also gave the impression that he was dedicated to doing the required brick work in this regard.

The matters regarding Bihari pride had begun to haunt the people of Bihar after the creation of Jharkhand, and got new impetus with the demand to keep the headquarters of ECR at Hajipur.
"Nitish stressed on Bihari pride," said Bisun Gope, a peon of the finance department who has served it for the last 35 years, adding: "I first saw him when he used to come to the secretariat with CM Lalu Prasad and Shivanand Tiwari together after 1990.
I had not seen him before that. But now he himself is the CM. It is a big difference to Thursday." Even during his seven-day term as CM in 2000, he attended to official work in the CM's chamber for four days.
The desire for change was in the offing. While the then culture and tourism department secretary Sunil Kumar Singh had started giving new look to the state secretariats by displaying photographs of important historical sites and the state's prominent landmarks, governor Buta Singh gave a new touch to it by ordering installation of flower pots in the corridors and also the upkeep of gardens.
"For Thursday's occasion, even gardens had to be mowed and piles of chopped grass was removed. Unlike the past, they were not allowed to remain there," Tiwari said.
What, however, seemed to enthuse the secretariat staff everywhere was the belief that CM Nitish would attend to his official chamber daily.
As they recalled, both Lalu and Rabri were careless in this regard, while governor Sunder Singh Bhandari, in his tenure during brief President's rule, did not come because he was physicaly challenged.
"Buta Singh brought the real change. He never failed in attending to his secretariat chamber to dispose the files," an employee said.

End of Article