A breach that never was

VVIP visits place a lot of responsibility on officials. A slip-up can be perceived as breach of protocol.

July 21, 2014 12:37 pm | Updated 12:37 pm IST

Every VVIP visit brings with it a major headache for the State and district administration and the police besides those who accompany the VVIP. Even what is perceived to be a slip in protocol can land the officers concerned in difficulty, not to speak of the prolonged traffic stoppages and other hassles that commoners face on such occasions.

Although President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to the State capital on Friday/Saturday passed off without any major untoward incident, there was a minor hiccup when no less a person than Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala took the officer in charge of the President’s security to task for pushing Speaker G. Karthikeyan, himself and Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar down the line after the State civil and police officials when the President alighted from the aircraft on his arrival in the State capital on Friday evening.

Mr. Chennithala also handed over a formal complaint on the subject to the President’s team. But there was no immediate clarification from the President’s team as, according to those in the know of things, though the Speaker and the two Ministers were pushed to the margins, there was no breach of protocol as such. The Home Minister did not also press the case but, when the President returned to Delhi via Trichy the next morning, there was only Mr. Sivakumar to accompany Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to the airport.

On rescue mode ? The recent constitution of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) by the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has raised many eyebrows and angered the university’s general council which, on Saturday, quashed the Vice Chancellor’s decision to form the panel. Questions are being asked why it was constituted all of a sudden, keeping even the general council in the dark. If it were allowed to function, the ICC would have replaced the Women’s Complaints Committee (WCC), which had recently conducted an inquiry into an Associate Professor’s allegation of sexual harassment by a senior and the latter’s suspension pending finalisation of disciplinary proceedings. Following the general council decision, the KAU has come out with the explanation that constitution of ICC had been put on hold because of the existence of the WCC, which was working on the Associate Professor’s complaint.

However, sources in KAU say that the constitution of ICC, under provisions of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, could have been done long ago as the government directive for forming the panel had been pending with the university’s administrative wing for several months now.

Beyond politics Kozhikode Mayor A.K. Premajam knows that good governance can happen only through teamwork. The corporation administration was cozy during the initial days of her tenure when the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government was in power in the State.

Many believed that after the Congress-led United Democratic Front government took over three years ago, the civic body ruled by the CPI(M), might find the going tough. Apprehensions were greater when the Local Self Government Department was split into three by the new government. However, the change of guard in the State appears to have had little effect on the corporation administration thanks to the wholehearted support the Mayor enjoys from both the Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayats M.K. Muneer and the Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali.

The bonhomie Prof. Premajam maintains with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) Ministers goes beyond her political difference. Paucity of funds and shortage of staff used to be two major ills dogging the Kozhikode Corporation. But, with both the IUML Ministers on her side, Ms. Premajam has shown that development can transcend politics.

NOT A scare Although some of them end up committing huge gaffes, politicians are probably the first to get a whiff of the change in political winds. Congress MLA from Chittoor in Palakkad proved in the Assembly the other day that he is one of the best in the business when he warned his compatriots, both in the treasury and Opposition benches, to be wary of NOTA (None Of The Above) option on the electronic voting machines. He left the entire House pondering about NOTA overtaking their tally when he said that in Velanthavalam and nearby areas of Palakkad, the tally of votes for NOTA was higher than that of the main contestants in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Mr. Achuthan’s advice was simple: Don’t throw around promises that cannot be kept. In the water-starved Velanthavalam, the voters decided not to vote any political party simply because none of them kept their word to provide drinking water and, since the promise was last made by the UDF before the Assembly polls, the worst hit by their decision was the UDF candidate. If the Opposition benches thought that there was a message in this only for those in power, they are mistaken. NOTA, Mr. Achuthan said, can cut both ways and the politicians would be the ones to bleed.

Battle-ready Local body elections, which are hardly one-and-a half years away, and the talk of organisational elections have infused a new spirit into all levels of the Ernakulam district unit of the Congress. Taking a cue from ‘Mission 676’ announced by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the civic administrators of Kochi have rolled out ‘Mission 393’ for the city. The Mission, it is said, has twin targets: to help garner votes in the elections and to douse the undying flames of factionalism in the district unit of the party. With the organisational elections due anytime now, the who-is-who of the District Congress Committee (DCC) leadership are meeting at Aluva on Monday to discuss ways in which the elections are to help from booth level upward.

With inputs from S. Anil Radhakrishnan and N.J. Nair (Thiruvananthapuram), K. Santhosh (Thrissur), Biju Govind (Kozhikode) and K.S. Sudhi (Kochi)

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