Government offices in public services
1. There is a nationalised bank in our area and a very popular and big school too. The wonder of wonders is almost 40- 50% of the branch employees have their children studying in this school. So though the branch is scheduled to operate from 9 am, some of the mother's drop their children for the 9 o' clock shift of the school and then come to work. By then the queue in the teller counter grows pretty long. When the public appeal for some of the other staff to start disbursing the money, they refuse saying it is another employee's turn at the counter as per the roster. So people wait in vain till the said employee comes and starts work. This delays the customers to their respective work places too. To top it all these mother's close the counter abruptly and run to school to meet their kids during lunch or the teachers and once again the pathetic public is made to wait. This had been happening for a long time and I have always wondered why banking staff who are to move from one branch to another never moved from this branch alone. An old man once lost his cool and shouted openly saying that he was going to write to their head office and lo and behold, most of the staff got transferred within the next 6 months. the branch is now functioning moderately better. Why did the higher ups in this bank show such a slack till a complaint was raised? Why were there no inspections at random to see if things were happening as well as they should. They even got prior information on inspection and on those days reported promptly- will this change? Sir please look into these
2. This is about a Central Govt office in charge for pension. I called up the office one day a few years back to speak to an employee and the time was 11 am. They said she was not in and when I asked if she was on leave they said it was too early to say and that I must call after half an hour (it was an office which should commence work at 10 am). When I called up later the lady was in and agreed to meet me that day. I went into the office at 1pm and went up the stairs to the first floor where this lady was seated. Before I could climb a few stairs the office assistants at the front desk came running behind me to say I cannot go up then and can go only at 2 PM. When I said that this lady was a friend of mine they let me go up and I was shocked to see whatever I saw- Most of the employees were asleep on the desk after lunch. Each had a pedestal fan blowing on his/her face along with the noisy ceiling fans. They were totally lost to the world and would not have known if I had grabbed a few papers and walked out then. These are important papers of employees of state and central government. They all woke up at 2 and started to do some work and asked about my queries too. At 3 they all walked out for tea and came back at 3:45. By 4:30 they were all packing and leaving. The office was supposed to close at 5:30 or 6:00 pm only. I have also tried reaching someone for some queries in this office, but nobody answers after 4:30. If this is the fate of the offices serving the public, why wouldn't there be delays in getting approvals and sanctions. These people were dealing with retirement settlements pensions- it might come in handy for someone for marriage reasons for their children, medical emergencies, etc.
Please Mr Prime Minister, request you to inculcate discipline in these public service sectors more