Guess what senior officials of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) are doing in the flood-ravaged areas of North Bihar? If you thought that they are planning to set up new steel plants or its subsidiary units, you’re wrong.

They are holding meetings with the District Magistrate and other officials of the district so that SAIL could provide the villagers (under Hajipur Lok Sabha seat) safe drinking water, education for children and other sanitary facilities.

Ideally, these tasks should have been carried out by the Rural Development Ministry headed by Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, the RJD MP from neighbouring Vaishali.

But SAIL officials have taken it upon themselves to ‘nurse’ the constituency on behalf of their political master — Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who incidentally represents Hajipur in the Lok Sabha.

“SAIL will concentrate on building approach roads to the villages, besides equipping primary schools with toys and sports equipments,” said a senior official of the cash-rich PSU. Refusing to be identified, the official added that plans were afoot to sink hand-pumps in each and every villages of Hajipur block by March 2008.

On the wrong track

Sailing in the similar boat is Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who, notwithstanding his occasional trips to Delhi, has stationed himself in Bihar for the last ten days.

Chugging from one station to another in his MR Special, and laying foundation stone for every small events, the maverick Lalu has been using the platform of railway functions to garner support for his Chetawani rally, scheduled to be held in Patna on October 28.

No different is the case of junior Union Ministers from Bihar. BSNL officials remain on their toes and keep sweating to ensure that the Press meet or other functions to be chaired by Union Minister of State for Communications Dr Shakeel Ahmad remain hassle-free.  No matter even if the minister is addressing the newsmen at BSNL office in the capacity of the newly-appointed AICC spokesman.

Similar is the case with Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Akhilesh Prasad Singh where Food Corporation of India officials leave no stone unturned to ensure the ‘comforts’ of their boss.