Memories of an ordinary buraucrat :: 49 :: Back in Kolkata

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Klokata GPO

Having very largely got the hang of more important areas of Bengal I was back in Kolkata for the home stretch. It was time for me to get the orders of my promotion but inexplicably these were being delayed. I knew the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had cleared my name and the Department of Personnel had issued the orders but it was being held up somewhere in the department. I did not wish to remind anybody, including the Secretary who was only a batch senior but somewhat cantankerous. Obviously someone had organized a game and I thought I, too, would play along. The question of availability of vacancies did not arise as out of the three sanctioned posts all were vacant. In fact, the Postal Board just did not exist. Only the Secretary who was ex-officio Chairman could not have constituted the Board.

There were many instances where the higher officials in the Board were inclined to play games to bring senior officers including Chief PMGs to grief. There was a national strike in the middle of 1993 which happened to last for one whole month. The minister, Sukh Ram, negotiated a settlement and the workers came back to work. Soon after the resumption of work I started getting letters from two senior officers of the Board to cut the salaries of employees who had struck work. I was told that some heads of circles had succumbed to the pressure and brought to heel, some others had been charge sheeted for not obeying orders. These gentlemen who were orchestrating their views that the month-long absence deserved a salary cut had forgotten that after every national strike the Board issued the necessary orders regarding treatment of the period of absence. This time, therefore, it was for the Board to issue the orders but, seemingly, it was trying to fire the guns keeping them on the shoulders of Chief PMGs.

I resolutely refused to issue any order and wrote back every time that it was for the Board to issue the orders as it was a nation-wide strike. As luck would have it, the minister happened to come to Kolkata for a telecom conference accompanied by a member of the Postal Board who was awaiting orders for elevation as Secretary. It was from his wing that the letters referred to above were being issued. As soon as the conversation revolved round to the Postal strike during the conference I butted in asked him whether there should be a pay-cut for the strike. Sukh Ram said in very clear terms that there should not be any pay cut as the issues with the unions were settled in a spirit of goodwill. I looked at the Member, he had nowhere to hide. Here was a matter that was resolved by none other than the minister himself and the Board wanted to punish the employees through the PMGs. The unfairness of it all did not seem to have occurred to any of the worthies.

I was asked to hold Kolkata for around six months. But when a vacancy arose in my own grade at Delhi at the end of six months somebody else who was anchored in Delhi for years was appointed. Such things happen and when I mentioned this to the Secretary at Kolkata his response was “not in this vacancy, I say!”. There was nothing else to do but to cool one’s heels. One couldn’t have picked up a fight with the Secretary although I had known him from the beginning of my career.

So I reconciled myself to a needlessly delayed promotion, not that the promotion would have given me any far greater amount of money. Instead of September I got the orders in February – a clear five months of administrative delay. So we collected our meagre personal effects, said good bye to the office people who had been very nice to us, said the same to many of our relatives and caught a flight for Delhi.

*Photo from internet

Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 40 :: Mumbai (Part VII) Vasai

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Not for nothing India was considered a golden sparrow during the middle ages. The riches of the country – cultural, political and economic – had spread its fame right across the then civilized world. Virtually every sea-faring nation of Europe in those days was aiming for a piece of the rich cake the country offered. Portugal was one of the first European countries to hit the Western shores of India. It has left a major footprint in the shape of Vasai Fort about 50 kilometres north of Mumbai.

The Fort at Vasai – also known as Bassein or Bacaim – is all that remains today of the Portuguese possession near Mumbai in the Palghar District of Maharashtra. It is known as the Fort of St. Sabastian of Vasai. The Portuguese had penetrated the Konkan coast and the control over Vasai gave them the possession of several islands that constitute Mumbai today. These are, among others, Colaba, Mumbai, Mazagaon, Worli, Matunga and Mahim. In addition Portuguese used to control Salsette, Daman, Diu, Thane, Kalyan etc.

The Vasai Fort is a Monument of National Importance. It is mostly in ruins except a few watch towers with their stairs in good usable condition. Many of the structures inside the Fort have fallen off but some of the walls remain standing to tell the current generation of their floor plans. The Fort currently has become a popular shooting destination of the Bollywood. Numerous films are shot here every year.

We took the route up north from our Worli residence and covered the distance in about an hour and a half. Wandering around we found little evidence of Portuguese occupation except the fort and a few names of places. An important legacy, however, is the presence of East Indians, the Catholic Christians, in the area whom we encountered also in Gorai. Maybe, some influences have been left behind in the cuisine and the way of life of the local people. Otherwise, unlike Goa, nothing much is left of the Northern Court or Corte da Norte, second only to Goa, functioning as the capital of the North from Vasai. Perhaps the reason is the hand-over of the Portuguese possessions of the region to the English by way of dowry for Princess Catherine of Braganza

This was our last outing in Mumbai except a minor one to Elephanta caves. I had completed four peaceful years of my tenure and it was now time to move. Soon I got a call from my friend TK Tochhawng, PMG North East, intimating that I had been posted in his place. He wanted me not to maneuver to have the orders cancelled. I assured him I had no such intentions. Obviously he did not want to continue further in Shillong though he was a Khasi.

Soon the round of farewells commenced, not by senior or junior colleagues but by the trade unions of the Maharashtra Circle. We had progresses to three regular unions – one each for every shade of political opinion. The oldest, of course, was the National Federation of the Postal Unions; the next was the National Union supported by the Indian National Congress and the third was the departmental union of Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh. All of them gave memorable send-offs for quite inexplicable reasons. When I was transferred out of Ahmedabad in the beginning of my career we had only one union that is the one that was Leftist.It too gave me a massive send-off.

 We packed and sent our stuff and the car by a truck right across the country from West to East and a day later we took a flight to Guwahati via Calcutta. We spent two pleasant years in the North East about which I have written separately. And, again, on completion, this time, of an abbreviated tenure of two years I was posted to the headquarters of the Department in-charge of matters relating to personnel. The only snag, reportedly, was the Secretary – an officer of our cadre – who was considered rather boorish. But things turned out in an entirely different way. He became very fond of me particularly because of the way I worked. I had surprisingly a very happy time with him though I did have to put in pretty hard labour.