There is growing perception in Nepal that our public offices hardly listen to people’s grievances. The more such perception is reinforced, the more indolent government offices or corporations that run on government-offered funds become.
Amazingly, we have become accustomed to living with the inconveniences due to public servants’ inefficiency and carelessness. These public servants, meanwhile, consider themselves to be people’s bosses.[break]
Is it because no one bothers to raise a voice if they get poor service wherever they go—Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Telecommunications, or commercial banks? Is this why our public servants ignore their clients’ genuine complaints?
In fact, the problem lies with us, the customers. We keep mum even though we have plenty of justifiable reasons to register our concerns, or to ask the managers of public offices to mind their manners. Had we not been so lethargic in drawing the attention of responsible officials, perhaps the negligent service, which has become a hallmark of many public offices in Nepal, would have improved considerably.
If government personnel are becoming less responsive to public demands, and we, despite being conscious citizens, are not willing to take up the matter with concerned authorities, there is every reason to believe that we will not be treated any better by the private sector.
With no personal bias against the traffic police, who are hard-working professionals, I would like to recall an incident on the eve of Dashain in Kalanki.
I am reproducing the misbehavior meted out to me and hundreds of co-passengers travelling out of Kathmandu. During the Nauratha, I had decided to visit Manakamana temple with my family. We went out to look for a travel agency that catered to our need for return tickets to Kurintar, including the fare for the cable-car. We found once such travel agency, Universal, on Surya Bikram Gyawali Marg at Old Baneshwar.
We bought three tickets. We were assured that we would be provided comfortable seats in the front row and we were asked to board the bus at Purano Baneswar chowk at 6 am. We reached the designated location at the right time, but had to wait for another half an hour to take the bus. There is no value of passengers’ time in this country. But even more deplorable was the bus driver’s misbehavior who forced me to take a seat on engine cover.
I pleaded that I could not take such a seat, but to no avail. When the bus stopped at Kalanki to collect other passengers, I sought the help of a traffic police and was disappointed again. The policemen are biased in favor of bus drivers, and are insensitive to the pleas of poor travelers. This is just an example of how ordinary passengers suffer at the hands of rowdy bus drivers every day.
If one visits the Baneswar office of Nepal Electricity Authority, one would be surprised to see numerous motorbikes parked inside its compound. These bikes prevent clients from reaching the counters to pay their bills.
NEA may respond that it is not their responsibility to manage this. But where are the security guards whose duty should be to manage parking? Besides, the owners of motorbikes should have the commonsense not to obstruct other customers when they park. Our civic sense is disappearing, and “yestai ho yaha” culture has become pervasive. In response, NEA has started a token system for its service, which we appreciate.
But no public entity presents a more disgusting picture than Nepal Telecommunications Corporations. I realize this whenever I visit the Chabhahil branch, in particular, to pay for ADSL services.
First of all, customers are cheated when they are given service only for 29 days, though they sign up for a month. The customers are not told that the service will last only 29 days. While customers are fed up with interrupted services though they pay for every second in advance (unlimited service for one month costs Rs 1,017), the serpentine queue one has to endure to pay the bills every month is even more painful.
Sometimes, we have been denied ADSL services for many days for no fault of ours. When I raised this issue with the higher officials, more than once I was promised compensation. They proposed to extend my services, but it never happened. My experience tells me that it was just a trick on their part to momentarily silence customers.
Recently, NTC introduced a payment system through machines installed inside the Chabahil branch, but the system seldom works. This raises a question: Is NTC turning a blind eye towards its performance? Convincing answers, if any exist, would be in order from the concerned at NTC.
Related story
Hamas calls on 'anyone who can bear arms' worldwide to fight Tr...
