A fat bill

Run(away) costs so far;

J P Singh: 2 February 2006-10 October 2007 Rs 17,43,663

RP Pal 11 September 2005-29 October 2007 Rs 8,24,733

JK Dadoo 30 July 2005-7 September 2006 Rs 11,04,312

Total: 36,72,708

Ramesh Negi

The man who was supposed to care for your tax-money because he was the finance secretary actually went ahead and splurged it instead flying 32 times , mostly to Dilli, between 23 February 2006 and 22 November 2007 at a cost to you of Rs 7,80,800. Why do I say cost to you? Because, nowadays corporates assess you while hiring on the basis of cost to company or CTC. In this all the variables like house rent, travelling allowance etc. that your earlier employer paid you are factored in. That's how they decide how much to pay you. This of course is made easy because all corporates have a proper accounting system, well at least of their employees; thus every penny they spend on you is transparent. Wish this could be said for our New Age rulers.

VK Jha

He spent Rs 5,78,395 between 9 April 2006 and 26 October 2007 flying up in the air not flapping his wings but not being the wind beneath your wings either. But what must have taken some doing is the fact that he flew to Chennai between 18 April-12 May 2006 (cost Rs 30,203) and on 9 April, 5 June and 7 June 2006 to Delhi (cost Rs 63,102) returning to base in a hurry only to take off to China between 18-27 June 2006 (cost Rs 1,38,675.) Phew! And at that cost you can bet he didn't fly solo to China. Jha who apparently had a thing for jetting off frequently, flew quickly again, this time to Russia, between 16-27 September 2006. Between 28 April 2006 and 7 May 2007 he flew to Dubai (cost Rs 98,262.) In other words, Rs 3,58,596 of the cost of keeping him airborne was consumed by his foreign trips. And you thought they homed in only on Dilli.

Diwan Chand

He spent Rs 2,95,046 between 9 April 2006 and 26 October 2007 flying only to Dilli.

Santosh Vaidya

Better known for the havoc he and Ramesh Negi as chief election commissioner caused to most candidates caught red-handed for greasing palms in the last election, Santosh Vaidya spent Rs 3,27,105 between 16 June 2006 and 20 July 2007. He flew once to Hungary spending a week at a cost to you (CTY) of Rs 1,65,000. Whatever happened to all those cases though?

The Janson connection

Let's digress a bit. BSNL finally got back on track with its broadband scheme after countless postponements at least in areas it had not covered before or that were not close to its primary exchanges. But the rackets within this government behemoth continue to move forward smoothly. So, when I went to its commercial office in Panjim to hand in my broadband application, a certain clerk sitting next to the entry clerk informed me BSNL had run out of modems, but if I went to a certain Jansons in St. Inez they would sell me the required modem. He then produced Jansons visiting card and gave me the co-ordinates. Any other information you ask on BSNL itself gets stuck somewhere down his throat, but ask him about Jansons in St. Inez and he gushes forth.

Accident waiting to happen

It's official. There is going to be a tragedy in the Mandovi this season. Following one more mysterious overnight entry of yet another casino boat, they are literally lining up waiting for docking space. But where's the docking space? Here's the scene and it could end up looking like a serial pile up on a highway in America you see on your TV screen. The trip incentives barge crew get make them reckless and caused the sinking of at least one barge last year. Just like trucks carrying iron ore whose drivers only look at the trip incentives they can earn and not at the road. There's this huge and wide casino boat made from wood, yes wood, that takes up more space than the others. There are a few more smaller and therefore faster tourist boats this season. The Old Goa jetty, where barges forced out of Panjim now halt, actually trembles every time barges are tethered to it. It shakes and rumbles, believe me. It's all there and like the Scarlett tragedy, waiting to happen.