Re: My experiences in Nagpur, RTO.

["Rayalaseema Informatics Centre" <ric@nettlinx.com>]

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In order to test the style of functioning of the office of the Road
Transport Officer (RTO) at Nagpur, Manish Gupta went to that office without
depending on any agent to get his Light Motor vehicle license transferred
from Jamshedpur to Nagpur. After meeting a number of people in that office
for six days and paying the prescribed fee of Rs.10, he finally got the
license only to find that his birth date was wrongly entered and has to
undergo  an equally arduous task  to get it corrected.

I fully agree with his observation that many lower-cadre staff in the RTO
and other Government offices are rude, lazy and inefficient. What I don't
like is his calling the poor agents extracting work from such staff for a
paltry sum in record time as touts. After all they are there because they
couldn't get a Government job and they have to somehow make a living.

We have inherited the hierarchial staff pattern of our Government offices
from the British rule. In an effort to provide employment for more people in
the organised sector and check the growing unemployment problem, our policy
makers have multiplied Government jobs. Elaborate procedures have been
created to justify creation of a multitude of posts. This has naturally led
to inordinate delays. Public found it necessary to pay some bribe and get
the work done faster rather than remain honest.

When Government jobs are multiplied, people welcome it with the hope that
their children might get those jobs. More jobs breed inefficiency,
corruption and public inconvenience. The need of the hour is to reduce
Government jobs. Who agrees for this?

R. Jagadiswara Rao



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