Commissioned Acquisition

RAJIB KUMAR

The Election Commission validates that acquisition for acquisition ain’t a
bad thing…and how

A couple of days ago I got a shock of my life when I visited one of the campuses I
am associated with.
A huge caravan of matadors, trucks and buses were waiting there to greet yours
truly. For once, I thought my job at this institute was at stake: the promoters have
perhaps logged onto the transport business to beat the recession mode I thought.
My trance was broken in a moment as I soon started getting glimpses of signs neatly
stuck on the front glass of the vehicles in loud red graphics: “On Election Duty”
The very same day as I take the trek from my base at Wellington Square to a
destination in Barrackpore, I see static cues of public transport over a 2 km stretch
on BT Road (the full hog: Kolkata’s very own and dreaded “blue line” buses,
minibuses, the white ones which proudly purports in writing and deed to be “under
the state surface transport corporation-Govt of WB undertaking” and of course the
taxis. Our taxi driver tells us they are on election duty. His assertion is validated: White Paper Signs with red text.
Now, the word “acquisition” isn’t a dirty word anymore. Forget about its usage with
its antonym “merger”; even within the organization HR functionaries looking after
recruitment flaunt their visiting cards with “Head-Talent Acquisition” encrypted.
Some may even argue acquisition was never a bad word after all. Didn’t the HR
definition from times immemorial promulgate the equation: Acquisition, Preservation
etc. etc.?
But all said and done the naked vehemence of acquisition by the Election
Commission reminds you of an imperialist war.
We have been reading the acquisition stories of the EC at the National Library,
Kolkata in the media. However, since I hardly visit the National Library, in the age of experiential learning, the story remained a story.
The execution of the might of Election Commission would put any dictator in any part
of the world at shame. Few of the SBI branches in the city aren’t functioning. The
Grievance Cell at Lalbazar is non functional. Pensioners in Post Offices are having a
harrowing time. As I write, public transport in the city is steadily embarking on the
road to oblivion (on election duty actually). You name it. And what’s more: each of
the above declares proudly why they have disabled itself from public interface. The
Kolkata Police website regrets the inconvenience caused by the ineffectual
Grievance Cell. Less tech savvy establishments like Post Offices hang shabby
looking hand written signs. “Hang the Sign & the Public” seem to be order of the day,
folks.
Question is: all this for what? A popular email forward doing the rounds for sometime
gives us a gruesome fact: The cost to company (I mean country) per MP is Rs. 32 L
p.a.! But obviously the cost involved in their acquisition is anybody’s guess.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily purport to constitute an official position of Offline or Material World

(Offline…SPECIAL-GREATER IMPACTS May 2009)