LDA told to play crowdpuller

FINALLY CHIEF Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav?s ?dream baby?, the sprawling Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar, is being decked up to hold its first public function ever since its mentor inaugurated it in October this year.

FINALLY CHIEF Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s ‘dream baby’, the sprawling Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar, is being decked up to hold its first public function ever since its mentor inaugurated it in October this year.

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And guess what, more than its host the culture department, the occasion, Yash Bharti Samman-2006, to be held on January 16, is giving sleepless nights to the LDA. Reason: LDA officials have been told to gather crowd for the CM’s show! Yes, believe it or not, but LDA chief engineer Lalit Kishore Mehrotra shot off an office memo to this effect to his entire engineering colleagues on Saturday (see box). Each executive engineer, assistant engineer-cum in-charge of enforcement section have been asked to bring in as many as 250 people prior to the commencement of the function.

Mehrotra’s missive leaves no scope for those thinking of giving him the slip on the issue. “Those entrusted with the task (of pulling in the crowd) will have to obtain a verification from me of the same,” states the office-memo. Needless to add, the order that has stumped the engineers, will be music to the ears of Samajwadi Party officer-bearers, who obviously will not have to toil to muster workers for their party leader’s function.