Copy-paste, a tale of unwindfalled sorrow

There's the cut-and-dried decision. Then there's the cut-and- run option. But in our great Jugaadistan, there's the cut-and-paste solution in its 'copy-paste' avatar. Last month, it surfaced in the form of an excuse packaged as an explanation. A State Bank of India (SBI) employee of a Ranga Reddy district branch in Telangana reportedly - and apparently - made a 'copy-paste error' that saw ₹1.5 crore erroneously get transferred into the salary accounts of 15 employees of a hospital in Hyderabad. But that's not all to the whoopsie-daisy story. The money went from funds meant for the Telangana government's flagship Dalit Bandhu scheme.

You would think that at least this would be a happy story for the 15 hospital staffers. But no such luck. After discovering the mistake of sub-Harshad Mehta proportions, SBI officials called the 15 lakhpatis, politely asking them to return the money that was, er, not theirs to keep. Imagine the agony of this lot - far worse than countries being told that they'll be able to buy wheat from India and then suddenly told that, sorry, there won't be any exports. 14 of them complied, with one hold-out: a valiant Mahesh. After the cops were sent to drive some sense into him, Mahesh has returned ₹6.7 lakh, still holding on to ₹3.3 lakh. And, no, the chap who made the 'copy-paste' cock-up has not been ticked off.