Office Office...
My cellphone rang during our flash session – a rare thing in the afternoon (the call, not flash). It was the PS to the Chief Engineer. “Sir I’ve been trying to reach you for over 2 hours”. “What’s the matter Mr. Kutty?” “Chief wants to meet you sir tomorrow. He’ll be coming to the office at 10 in the morning”. “But tomorrow’s a holiday; it’s His Majesty’s birthday”. “He’s requested that you meet him at 10:15 Sir”. Others were curious. “Why does chief want to meet you?” “Oh! There are some issues” I said vaguely (and tried to sound as important as possible).
Chief and I share a love-hate relationship. His belief and confidence in me and my words is tidal. It sees a regular ebb and high – ebbs are longer though. I wondered what it would be this time.
A little background on the Chief
The Chief Engineer is the head of the Project (Dantak, the road-building project). Though I head an independent office here as the finance and audit guy, I still am responsible for the services provided by my office to the executive. Of course the Chief is senior and hence I could call him the Boss.
As a person Brig MSP is affable. He’s almost self-effacing, mild-mannered, well-dressed and courteous. He’s nice to a fault with his men. I can’t vouch for his language or conversational skills (I rate him 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 most times on these two attributes; he LOVES to talk). But as the head of the project he’s a disaster. He is not corrupt but not incorruptible. He wields little control over most of his subordinate officers. He has grand ambitions, dreams and visions but lacks in both planning and implementation. He prefers conferences and presentations to on-site inspections and ground-level interactions. Though he is responsible for roads his travel’s mostly by the chopper. By concentrating on new and exotic (read whimsical and unrealistic) ideas that he gets from the books he reads he misses out on the whole picture. Achievements of the project are woefully short of the lofty targets he’s set himself. He means well but does little. So, the targets get revised downwards at least twice before the year-end. He also gets easily upset with me quoting logic (since I don’t know rules) whilst arguing why he can’t do things he proposes to! He also gets easily influenced by his people (and hence his opinion on me keeps fluttering like the flag in the wind). In short he thinks I’m a prick most times and an evil that can’t be wished away at others.
A little background on why Chief wanted to meet
A few days ago, just before Chief left for Delhi for (yet another) conference he’d asked me to see him (and give my 2-cents on his presentation). After the tête-à-tête was over, just as I was leaving I mentioned to the irregularities I’d noticed in the contracts that were concluded. “Sudhir, were they because of lack of knowledge?” “No Sir, I think they were deliberate. But I’d rather discuss the issue once you’re back from Delhi”.
He’d remembered this conversation (which again is a rare thing) and wanted to talk more about it.
The Meeting
10:15 was too early for a meeting on a holiday. I had no time to bathe. I barely managed to shave. I didn’t even change into a fresh set of clothes. Breakfast too was eaten hurriedly. When I entered Chief’s office, his PS too was present. Soon he was asked to leave and immediately Chief said, “Yes Sudhir, you were telling me about the contracts before I left for Delhi”.
“Sir, in the last one month I have returned at least 6 contracts without vetting them on grounds of irregularities in their conclusion”. I elaborated on this and pointed out the irregularities I had observed. Cases of awarding contracts to non-lowest bidders resulting in loss to the State, cases where the bids were overwritten to make a particular contractor the lowest bidder, cases where revised offers were received by the Office even before these offers were written!
“Are you sure that these lapses are deliberate? Could they not possibly be due to lack of knowledge?” the Chief asked after listening to my marathon drone.
“It’d have been possible in one case or even two but not in all cases”.
“Who do you think is responsible?”
“Anyone dealing with the Works”
“Do you have any doubts about any particular officer?”
“No. I don’t play the ‘finger-pointing’ game. I have brought the matters to you. It’s for you to find out who might be involved”.
“What about the present Director (wks)? Do you think he’s involved too?”
“I don’t know Sir”.
“Do you have any doubts about AM?” AM is a Lt Col serving as the Senior Staff Officer – Works. He’s the one who does most of the scrutiny after the bids are received.
“No Sir. If there’s one officer whose integrity I’d vouch for, it’s him. Of course we have our differences over enough things but that apart, I believe he’s clean”. I remember many instances of our ego clashes. Because AM ‘thinks’ he is senior to me (by age and years of service) he has tried to call me in singular terms. Since I don’t consider him senior by rank I have addressed him the same way, with a little bit of arrogance and disdain thrown in for good measure (and in front of all men). He has been careful ever since.
“Really Sudhir?” and the talk drifted to how the previous Director (wks) – how corrupt he was! - didn’t want AM as his deputy, how the present Director (wks) was impressive with his work and his knowledge of rules. Soon I grew tired and brought back the discussion to the topic concerned.
Chief and I share a love-hate relationship. His belief and confidence in me and my words is tidal. It sees a regular ebb and high – ebbs are longer though. I wondered what it would be this time.
A little background on the Chief
The Chief Engineer is the head of the Project (Dantak, the road-building project). Though I head an independent office here as the finance and audit guy, I still am responsible for the services provided by my office to the executive. Of course the Chief is senior and hence I could call him the Boss.
As a person Brig MSP is affable. He’s almost self-effacing, mild-mannered, well-dressed and courteous. He’s nice to a fault with his men. I can’t vouch for his language or conversational skills (I rate him 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 most times on these two attributes; he LOVES to talk). But as the head of the project he’s a disaster. He is not corrupt but not incorruptible. He wields little control over most of his subordinate officers. He has grand ambitions, dreams and visions but lacks in both planning and implementation. He prefers conferences and presentations to on-site inspections and ground-level interactions. Though he is responsible for roads his travel’s mostly by the chopper. By concentrating on new and exotic (read whimsical and unrealistic) ideas that he gets from the books he reads he misses out on the whole picture. Achievements of the project are woefully short of the lofty targets he’s set himself. He means well but does little. So, the targets get revised downwards at least twice before the year-end. He also gets easily upset with me quoting logic (since I don’t know rules) whilst arguing why he can’t do things he proposes to! He also gets easily influenced by his people (and hence his opinion on me keeps fluttering like the flag in the wind). In short he thinks I’m a prick most times and an evil that can’t be wished away at others.
A little background on why Chief wanted to meet
A few days ago, just before Chief left for Delhi for (yet another) conference he’d asked me to see him (and give my 2-cents on his presentation). After the tête-à-tête was over, just as I was leaving I mentioned to the irregularities I’d noticed in the contracts that were concluded. “Sudhir, were they because of lack of knowledge?” “No Sir, I think they were deliberate. But I’d rather discuss the issue once you’re back from Delhi”.
He’d remembered this conversation (which again is a rare thing) and wanted to talk more about it.
The Meeting
10:15 was too early for a meeting on a holiday. I had no time to bathe. I barely managed to shave. I didn’t even change into a fresh set of clothes. Breakfast too was eaten hurriedly. When I entered Chief’s office, his PS too was present. Soon he was asked to leave and immediately Chief said, “Yes Sudhir, you were telling me about the contracts before I left for Delhi”.
“Sir, in the last one month I have returned at least 6 contracts without vetting them on grounds of irregularities in their conclusion”. I elaborated on this and pointed out the irregularities I had observed. Cases of awarding contracts to non-lowest bidders resulting in loss to the State, cases where the bids were overwritten to make a particular contractor the lowest bidder, cases where revised offers were received by the Office even before these offers were written!
“Are you sure that these lapses are deliberate? Could they not possibly be due to lack of knowledge?” the Chief asked after listening to my marathon drone.
“It’d have been possible in one case or even two but not in all cases”.
“Who do you think is responsible?”
“Anyone dealing with the Works”
“Do you have any doubts about any particular officer?”
“No. I don’t play the ‘finger-pointing’ game. I have brought the matters to you. It’s for you to find out who might be involved”.
“What about the present Director (wks)? Do you think he’s involved too?”
“I don’t know Sir”.
“Do you have any doubts about AM?” AM is a Lt Col serving as the Senior Staff Officer – Works. He’s the one who does most of the scrutiny after the bids are received.
“No Sir. If there’s one officer whose integrity I’d vouch for, it’s him. Of course we have our differences over enough things but that apart, I believe he’s clean”. I remember many instances of our ego clashes. Because AM ‘thinks’ he is senior to me (by age and years of service) he has tried to call me in singular terms. Since I don’t consider him senior by rank I have addressed him the same way, with a little bit of arrogance and disdain thrown in for good measure (and in front of all men). He has been careful ever since.
“Really Sudhir?” and the talk drifted to how the previous Director (wks) – how corrupt he was! - didn’t want AM as his deputy, how the present Director (wks) was impressive with his work and his knowledge of rules. Soon I grew tired and brought back the discussion to the topic concerned.
(To be continued...)
Labels: Accomplishment, Advice, Bhutan, Workplace
posted by Quintessential Critic (Sudhir Narayana) @ 5:39 PM
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