With the result, with every bonanza, employees are asking for more, till the bottom of the barrel is scraped. Look at Paswan's announcement of the week. About 3.2 lakh non-gazetted staff of the Telecom Department are to be given free telephone connections. There will be no registration and installation charges for these employees. Besides, they are allowed to make 150 free calls in a bi-monthly billing period.
Ministerial generosity stems from ministerial unaccountability.
Imagine the extra burden on the exchequer on account of Paswan's largesse. The installation and rental charges, which every telephone user has to pay, will be waived in the case of the employees of Telecom and Telecom services departments. It is but commonsense that the work of the departmental employees will receive top priority. Let us look at the services rendered by these employees. About 35,000 telephones are dead in Mumbai city alone as a result of the pre-monsoon showers.