NHAI’s headless days continue

NHAI’s headless days continue
PM Manmohan Singh’s directive in June to the Road Transport ministry officials to fill up vacant posts in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) does not seem to have had much affect. The sector has been lagging behind in meeting targets. However, despite the directive, NHAI continues to be without a full-time chairman for the seventh month running. While the ministry is busy amending the eligibility criteria for the chairman’s post to allow technocrats and professionals from private sector to apply, the newly appointed road transport secretary AK Upadhyay has been given additional charge of NHAI chairman for the next six months. NHAI has been without a full-time chairman since January after then incumbent Brijeshwar Singh’s term expired. The snail’s pace has now forced the PM to set a fresh three-month deadline to appoint a new chairman.
DoPT differs from MHA on declaring a document secret
The government has declared that joint secretary-level officials can declare a document as secret whereas an under secretary has a right to term a document as confidential. In a reply to an RTI application, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) gave this information even though the Home Ministry refused to provide details of the Manual of Departmental Security Instructions, saying it could jeopardise national security. The MHA had invoked the security clause in the RTI Act in denying the information which was also upheld by the Central Information Commission. However, the DoPT took a different view and provided the basic information.
No ‘cattle-class’ travelling in govt’s newest austerity drive
Senior officials heaved a sign of relief when the government recently ordered another round of austerity measures but this time, did not force officials and ministers to travel in economy class. The economy class only rule — that one minister had so famously referred to as the cattle class — had apparently saved the government a great deal of money at the cost of some discomfort to the spoilt bureaucrats. But this time, the new austerity rules could reduce foreign jaunts of senior officers. It insists that where foreign travel was unavoidable, officials at the appropriate level handling the subject should be sent on the visit “instead of those at a higher level”. This provision could help save the exchequer some money since junior officials would only be entitled to travel economy in the normal course too.
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Bihar: After induction of AIMIM MLAs, Tejashwi announces Seemanchal tour
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New Maharashtra CM Shinde must prove majority in assembly on Monday
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Monsoon covers Punjab’s Malwa belt, brings relief for farmers
The first monsoon showers that hit the semi-arid region of south Malwa on Thursday night brought respite for cotton farmers from the deadly whitefly but exposed the ill-preparedness of the civic authorities in the urban areas as several areas in Bathinda town were in knee-deep in water. Also read: Monsoon arrives in Chandigarh tricity, so does misery Low-lying areas, such as Power House Road and Sikri Bazaar, were waterlogged.
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Mild earthquake in Karnataka's Kodagu, 3rd in a week in state: Report
A mild earthquake was felt in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district early Friday morning - the third in the past seven days. News agency PTI said locals were woken up at around 1.15 am by a loud noise and tremors that were felt in Sampaje, Guttigaru, Ubaradka, Goonaka, Elimale, Sullia and nearby areas. Officials told PTI a report from the natural disaster monitoring centre is awaited. On Saturday (June 25), a 2.3 quake was recorded.
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Bengaluru: Civic workers begin indefinite strike, demand permanent jobs
Over 15000 Porakarmikas (civic workers) on Friday began an indefinite strike in Bengaluru, demanding that their jobs be made permanent from the existing contract system and better salary to take care of their families. These civic workers are the backbone of every city corporation in Karnataka and especially Bengaluru which houses over 12million of the total 70million people in the state.