It's raining laptops in Jharkhand. After MLAs, it is the turn of the babus to get them now. As per Science and Technology Minister Samresh Singh’s plans, all Heads of Departments/Secretaries are to get laptops soon. The department has already bought Pentium 4 laptops worth Rs 66 lakh. ‘‘These are the latest models,’’ declares Department Secretary Debi Patra. Earlier, Ministers were provided Pentium 3 laptops worth Rs 88 lakh by Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari. Dissidence over officials’ transfer RANCHI: Two months after Arjun Munda was sworn in as Jharkhand CM, five Ministers are grumbling against his decision to shift JSEB chairman Rajib Ranjan and Secretary (S&T) Debi Patra under pressure from Ministers of the respective departments. Ministers Sudesh Mahato, Joba Manjhi, Madhao Lal, Baccha Singh and Ramchandra Kesri have demanded action to check the ‘‘armtwisting’’ measures of S&T Minister Samresh Singh and Energy Minister Lalchand Mahato. (ENS) But even as the government goes ahead with its plans, the supplier Ranchi-based Datatech, allegedly didn’t meet conditions set by the department. For instance, the department had sought Pentium 4 laptops with 2.4 Gigahertz CPU frequency but the ones delivered were of 2.2 Gigahertz. That means slower processors, so slower working. Not that it should affect the babus at all. In fact, less than 20 out of 210 heads of Departments/Secretaries actually use computers for work, says a report. Asked if the government accords priority to e-governance, Chief Secretary A.K. Mishra has this to say: ‘‘I work on computer.’’ Mishra has company in his boss, Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who frequently holds video-conferences with Collectors, SPs and Commissioners. Apart from them, most of the 26 Ministers don’t even know how to operate a laptop. Water Resources Minister Ramchandra Kesri had this to say: ‘‘Yeh sab bekar cheez hai (All this is useless).’’ The laptops of Congress Legislature Party leader Furkan Ansari, RJD’s Saba Ahmad and Finance Minister M.P. Singh are also reportedly being used by their relatives.
