plight of Airlines Pilots

Airlines like King Fisher and the state owned Air India are not doing well and are facing severe cash and financial crunch due to which they have not been able to pay the salaries of the staff since the past 3 months!  These Airlines are also not coming forward to tell their staff their proposed course of action and the ways devised to get out of this financial mess that they are pushed into.  The pilots and the other staff are looking for absorption in some other airlines for which they require clearance from their present employers.

At the time of joining the airlines, it is mandatory to have identity cards issued for entry and exit out of the airports which are controlled by a special wing of the central police force.  The BCAS is one such wing which issues the identity cards to the operational staff and the pilots of the airlines.

The Pilots and the staff of these airlines are facing a peculiar problem with their respective airlines/employers.  The resignation of the pilots and the operation staff are not being accepted by the airlines citing the mandatory notice period of 6 months.  The staff are agitated as they have not been getting their salary and unable to cope up with routine life due to the cash crunch.  They are unwilling to work for yet another 3 months without getting paid and kept in suspense about the future of the airlines itself.  The catch here is that they have to surrender their identity cards to their employers or the issuing authority which is BCAS, a central Police force.
Both of them are not willing to accept the surrender of identity cards pushing the responsibility on the other.  The pilots and the staff suffer due to this drama since the surrender of I-card is essential to join the other airlines offering them jobs!  It is understandable that the employer would not accept the surrender of I-cards as they do not want to be deserted by their staff.  The BCAS being a central government work force should be magnanimous to accept the surrender of cards by the staff and enable them to pursue their rightful living by joining other institutions that offer them jobs?

I met one pilot who was complaining about the attitude of the chief of BCAS who is a decorated IPS officer who has been trained and given the job to help, assist and protect people! He said that the officer made him wait for several hours before accepting the surrender of I-card only after ranting the  power associated with the seat that he was occupying and saying even IAS officers come and stand in front of him for getting their jobs done!  As a police officer, it does not go well if his head is swollen with such huge EGO??

will the ministry of home affairs, under whom this department functions layout procedures to be followed in these circumstances and counsel the chief of BCAS to adopt a human approach to these problems and try to help and assist the people who are in distress and not to be jealous of the perks and salaries that these persons enjoy?

Car Regn number/Fancy numbers

If you are buying a car and want a fancy number plate of your choice, there is a fee charged by the Regional Transport Authority ranging anything between Rs 5000/- to Rs 50,000/- depending on the popular demand for that specific number! The rules are very strict for the public who are often forced to shell out money to get the number of their choice.

In Chennai, most of the Government owned vehicles have fancy numbers such as the one in the picture above and one really wonders if the Government department also spends that extra money to get these special numbers or is it allotted out of priority? Invariably, all the Government owned vehicles and specially those owned by the bureaucrats occupying important positions, the judiciary and the police officers have this special privilege of having special numbers which are attractive and easy to remember.

There is no harm in extending this privilege to the Government servants but one is entitled to know if they also shell out that extra fee for getting the special numbers?

Can anyone explain?

Election Commission's directive to U P Government

The directive issued by the Election Commission to the Government of Uttar Pradesh to cover up the statues of Mayawati and her elephants symbolising her party is unethical and stupid.  If at all the Election commission wanted to ensure fair elections, they should have stepped in the moment the statue installation work started which attracted lots of hue and cry from the public along with public interest litigation.  Merely asking the state government to cover the statues will have no impact on the voters who will vote according to their conscience.
                           
The election commission should have interfered when huge, gigantic statues of Mayawati, her mentor Kanshi Ram and the party symbols were being installed using public money.  Now, after everything is installed and over, the Election Commission has suddenly woken up to direct that all the the  statues be covered.  The newspaper reports suggest that it may cost roughly Rs 1 cr to cover up the stupid act of the chief minister of U P in errecting her own statues everywhere in the state!  This is the cost of electing uneducated people to run the state!  Statues are errected only for those impeccable leaders who have worked selflessly for the cause of people and the country.  Mayawati is known for her ambitions to project herself as a saviour of the Dalits and ruin the state funds for petty matters like statues which is unproductive.

It is time that the constitution is changed in such a manner that no one can errect his or her own statues in any public place.  Statues or busts of eminent persons can only be put in museums for public viewing.  This will not only free the cities from congestion but also help in disciplining the political class to a great extent.