Finance ministry officials get ready for 15-day hibernation in dungeon

NEW DELHI: For two weeks from July 1, even finance minister Arun Jaitley will be scanned by a three-layered security system as the Budget papers for 2014-2015 start getting printed in the basement of the North Block office.

Delhi Police will provide the first layer of security, CRPF the second and Intelligence Bureau the third, as the ministry offices will be under 24x7 vigil.

The finance ministry joint secretary (Budget) and about five other secretaries will be issued smart cards to keep tabs on their movement into the underground press area, which will be sealed off for everyone else for two weeks. But even they will not be allowed to carry anything along with them.

The finance ministry is preparing for the annual 15-day hibernation for its 200-odd people engaged in printing the Budget papers to be presented in Parliament. It could start from June 30 or July 1 this time.

The send-off to the "dungeon" begins with a ceremonial "halwa party". The custom has been in place for years and nobody seems to know when it started. It is customary for the finance minister to offer "halwa" at a small ceremonial gathering for team members who play their part in the extensive and rigorous exercise of preparing the Budget.

On the day they get to see daylight for the first time in two weeks, there is rejoicing and they also earn themselves an extra month's pay.

What is new this year is that the state-of-the-art printing machines, which can print 40,000 pages an hour, have been supplemented with automatic binders. Till last year, that process was manual.

From last year, a dietician is locked in with those stationed inside to take care of meals for them so that they do not take ill in the unusual conditions with no ventilation and long working hours. Doctors are on call, but are not present in the sealed area. Last year, two members of the Budget staff fell ill and were admitted to a hospital. Police were posted at the hospital to stand guard and ensure that no Budget information was leaked out.

Apart from finance ministry staff, a couple of law officers are also locked in to interpret any issue that may come up while printing. The only person who is allowed to carry papers out for the finance minister or the Prime Minister is the joint secretary in charge of Budget coordination, better known as JS (Budget).