By Our Correspondent
What could be a dream account for a public relations and communications consultancy firm in India? Ask those in the business and chances are that they would say that having both Tatas and Ambanis could be the best thing for any PR and communications firm. And believe it or not, Ms Niira Radia has pulled off this coup for her firm Vashnavi Corporate Communications, leaving her high-profile rivals who spend more time attending Page 3 parties than in client servicing, turning green with envy.
Ms Radia, known for her low-key but extremely effective style of functioning, has set up a new company called Neocom to handle the newly-acquired Reliance Industries Ltd account. There is talk of an editor of a leading Indian business magazine joining her as advisor to help her manage the new account. Ms Radia is also said to have been instrumental in finding the first home for Nano at Singur – Delhi-based Vaishnavi is also consultants to the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.
And now, she is said to have played a key role in the evacuation of the Nano plant from the controversial site and its rehabilitation in Gujarat. This, because Ms Radia is said to share a personal rapport with political leaders ranging from the Left to Right. And she says that she understands that the corporate world needs PR that understands global developments. Phew! What feather is Ms Radia going to have in her cap next?
Enforce rules and get punishment posting in civil aviation ministry
An Airports Authority of India officer is kicking himself for following the rules. The Hotel Sea View in Mumbai has allegedly occupied land that belongs to the AAI at the Juhu airport. The moribund airfield that is used by non-scheduled operators and occupied mainly by stray dogs is prime real estate.
When the AAI discovered that a hotel had allegedly encroached on to their property they took action. Letter after letter was dashed off to SRR Rao, the then executive director of the western region of the AAI and also the AAI estate officer, asking him to issue an eviction notice to the hotel. However, before Rao was able to issue the eviction notice he was issued summons from the civil aviation ministry in Delhi. The officer was called to the ministry and was instructed that he should desist from taking any action against the hotel. Duly chastened Rao returned to Mumbai to find a third letter on his desk from the AAI land management department asking him to issue an eviction notice to the hotel.
Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, Rao decided to seek safety in the rule book and did as was required by him. He issued the eviction notice to Hotel Sea View.
No sooner had Rao issued the notice that he found another letter on his desk issuing him transfer orders.
From Mumbai SRR Rao was transferred to the National Institute of Aviation Management and Research (NIAMR) located in a far, outlying corner near the international airport in Delhi. While Mumbai is considered to be a plum posting, NIAMR, in AAI circles, is akin to being assigned quarters in the cellular jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The latest is that Hotel Sea View has gone to court against the eviction order of the AAI.