Dog Walk —- Government action seems too little too late

In this month so far, there have been at least two incidents in the country that depicted that the sense of entitlement continues to persist among babus in the bureaucracy and that they can use the same for their benefit and then deny having done that. They fail and are not ready to accept the fact that, before holding any top position in the system, they are citizens like any other person. However, these babus can get cheaper airline tickets because they can, and at the same time, they can get the athletes out of the grounds to walk their dogs, all because they can.

In Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium, the scene of an IAS officer, Sanjeev Khirwar, Principal Secretary (Revenue), walking his dog after the athletes were kicked out of the stadium has been the order of the day for a long. It used to be like, an hour before when the concerned babu was expected to reach the stadium to walk his dog along with his wife, the players, and coaches, busy in their practice were to take the exit route. The matter was there for a long; however, it has come to the fore just 2 days back prompting the Delhi Government to keep the sports facilities open until 10 at the night.

However, it did not stop there; rather both Khirwar along with his wife have been transferred from Delhi. As a sort of punishment posting, Khirwar has been transferred to Ladakh while his wife has been sent to Arunachal Pradesh. Despite the action taken by the Government, the officer has denied the allegations, but that is not relevant now. No matter the action taken by the Government in this regard, the utter disregard for the public order and process shown by the concerned babu has once again highlighted that the bureaucrats, if they want, can do whatever they want, whatever they like, and there cannot be anyone questioning them, unless and until their indecency, their sense of misplaced privilege is highlighted and made public.

While the incident depicts the deep-rooted sense of entitlement among babus all across the spectrum—no matter there are some beautiful exceptions too—the action taken by the Government seems too little too late. The authorities could have done more than just transfer the ‘babu-couple’. The concerned officer should have been made to pay for the losses which his walking-the-dog caused to the athletes, and coaches at the Thyagraj Stadium. There was a need for making an example out of him so that the babus across the country take note of it and ensure that the stream of the sense of false entitlement does not wash them away and put them on the track of ending up becoming a hurdle in the process of facilitating the public.