The government office

The government office
तेरे इश्क ने सरकारी दफ्तर बना दिया दिल को..
ना कोई काम करता है, ना कोई बात सुनता है…
Your love has made my heart a government official, it neither does anything nor listens to anyone
I was reminded of this couplet on my visit to a government office recently, as a common service seeking citizen
Being in the government sector myself, and having many friends and relatives in senior government positions, so far, all dealings with officialdom happened smoothly, largely handled by my secretary, with my personal involvement being limited to having tea with the top guys while my signature was obtained and walking out with thanks
Post retirement too, in dealings with the RTO , banks, municipality continued to be on these lines.
But recently, I wanted to surrender my defunct land-line connection, which hasn’t been working since ages and which we never needed, except as a proof of residence in my hometown while we moved around the country
On retirement I have moved to my permanent address, and have had my passport, PAN, adhar card, RC, bank accounts all transferred to my permanent address, and thought about saving the monthly rental on the phone
Being a minor matter and and the office being close by, I walked down one morning and thought I’d come to the wrong place as the door appeared locked and the place was deserted
However, the door opened on being pushed and I found a gentleman engrossed with his phone
After repeated requests and queries to which he appeared to be deaf, he replied without looking up that I should stand in front of counter 4
But you are the only person here
There’s an officer in the cabin, go complain to him
I knocked and entered the cabin where a lady was engrossed in her phone
She politely responded to my query and advised me to wait until the lady who managed counter 4 would turn up, as she was marked present. She also asked someone to check whether she’s somewhere nearby.
A colleague probably called her and the lady turned up but insisted that she would give me the information at her counter
There she told me that whatever I had learnt from their website was incorrect, and I had to fill a different form and provide a pan card, the only document that I wasn’t carrying. Apparently the adhar card and passport wouldn’t do. I also had to carry a copy of the last bill.
I have been paying online through direct payments from the bank for many years and the website didn’t permit printouts
They said that this wasn’t their problem and I should switch to manually paying the bills and then come back with a bill
I pointed out that they could verify from the website that I have no dues but they insisted that they have to follow the manual
They also said that the crossed cheque is not required as refund of deposit is another department and the process could be told when that employee turns up
I said that I wanted to donate the deposit for their picnic fund and was directed back the officer
The officer appeared to be embarrassed and showed me a circular giving the required documents and admitted that probably finding the ancient receipts and papers might not be possible and I could give a sworn affidavit notarized on stamp paper that these documents are lost and we should accept the information available online. She would waive the requirements then. But I had to give the documents at the relevant counter between 11am and 1 pm when it was most likely to find the staff.
I pointed out that I was here at the golden hour but no one seemed to be around
She was even more embarrassed and said that we couldn’t predict their presence in advance and we have to try our luck as online applications are still not available.
She kindly suggested that I send someone or appoint an agent and needn’t come myself as is likely to be a long and tedious process
I decided to retain the phone and keep paying the rentals
Soumya

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