January 24, 2000

The Mayor and the RBI Governor

The is supposed to be the first citizen of India’s richest metropolis, but the Mayor’s sprawling official bungalow at Cadell Road is falling apart with disrepair. At a meeting convened there sometime last year, a leading architect was itching to be able to do something to restore its excellent architecture. When he mentioned the possibility, the then Mayor simply laughed and said forget about luxuries, there were no funds even for repairs. During the monsoon, a few rooms actually had to have buckets placed to collect water leaking through the ceiling. Contrast this with the RBI Governor’s house at the post Altamount Road. This already magnificent bungalow is getting a face-lift wortharoundl Rs 55.25 lakh and the final cost will be higher. At least Rs 7.5 lakh is being spent for air-conditioning and Rs 5 lakh each to redo the kitchen and the bathrooms with Italian marble and designer Jaguar fittings. This is one government job which allows the top brass to live like kings. Even otherwise, the RBI is not subject to scrutiny by the CAG.

Service charge at Tirupati

TREGULARS at the Tirupati Devasthanam in Andhra know that if you pay an official fee of Rs 100 you are entitled to a special darshan and can jump the long queue. An investment banker who went to Tirupati recently found that the house of God is no longer free of corruption either. He was told that because of the heavy rush even the limited special darshan was unavailable. When the disappointed family went back to the hotel the travel agency helpfully said that for a ‘service fee’ of Rs 150 per head plus Rs 100 each for the special darshan they could get into the temple. Surely this service fee is no different from the black market that flourishes outside cinema halls. The Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai has another interesting facility. Mumbai has people who make some easy money by simply standing in the queue every Tuesday. They sell their place in the queue for a price and then go back to the end of it and start all over again. Have people stopped believing in the omnipresence of God that they insist on personal meetings at any cost?

Trolley trauma

International passengers landing at India are now used to going out of the terminal to hunt for scarce luggage trolleys. The Airport Authority of India and the Civil Aviation Ministry couldn’t care less, because the trolley workers have gone to court and they claim helplessness. Consumer activist M. R. Pai now offers some information that can be used to force action out of the Aviation Authority. In a little booklet brought out by the Rotary Club of Bombay he says most air passengers are unaware that their tickets include a service fee of Rs 125 for domestic flights and Rs 500 for international flights to cover free trolley service, drinking water, clean toilets and maintenance. He asks passengers to demand a refund for deficient service. Individuals’ demands will certainly be laughed away, but collective demand may lead to some action.

Punwani not Patel

The one thing that foreign mutual funds promised Indian investors was highly efficient service and quick turnaround. Some even promised transfer of funds and information on the phone, over a period of time. Instead, the huge inflow of money into these funds seems to be slowing them down and inefficiencies which characterised large Indian funds are creeping in. Look at what happened to D. Punwani who invested in Templeton’s India Income Plan. He keeps receiving his cheques in the name of one Mansukh M Patel. After a lengthy and angry correspondence with the registrar, Karvy Consultants confessed that the same account number had been allotted to Patel as well. They apologised and Punwani presumed that the matter would have been set right. To his surprise the next cheque was again in the name of Patel. He justifiably feels that it is no longer a simple mistake, but deliberate harassment or worse. Is an apology enough or is the Fund going to make amends for the delayed dividend and irritation? Is it also any wonder that investors continue to be so vary about dematerialisation?

 

Updated weekly.

The author's e-mail address is: suchetadalal@yahoo.com

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