Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Tuesday, 7 April 2015 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The most attractive job opportunities in the public sector for new university graduates are the customs authority and the Inland Revenue. The most attractive lower echelons of the Police are in traffic. Questions anyone?
The public servant serves the public at a price, while they traditionally preferred the security of a Government job possibly with a pension and the inevitable promotion on seniority rather than merit.
Rather than join the private sector for reasons of language disability or embark on an entrepreneurial pursuit themselves, they see it as their bestowed right to extract a supplementary allowance from the public whom they so diligently (?) serve. Why should they be faulted for aspiring to maintain the same living standards as the other nongovernment wage earners or businessmen!
One wonders whether wily politicians turn a blind eye to this firmly entrenched phenomenon because it alleviates the pressure for pay increases, burdening the Treasury.
Are the general public treated as an extension of the Treasury to subsidise the shortfall in the public servants cost of living allowance? Perhaps a valid case for a deductible expense on all legitimate taxpayers tax returns.
Fact is, it is an inescapable, necessary evil to get anything done anywhere. Unless of course you know someone who is a somebody wherever it may be! So I ask you: Is it cheaper to send your “catcher” (a wonderful Sri Lankan invention) to go do the needful at the lower level, or call the boss to get it done and be obligated to invite him to the club for drinks? A no-brainer really.
Sometimes you have to do your own dirty work. Have you noticed the miles of solid white lines in the middle of the outstation roads that barely end just before pedestrian crossings in uninhabited, rural areas, making it virtually impossible to pass another vehicle without a gleeful cop waiting expectantly for you? Their duty is to waylay the public.
With orders to go out and “write” at least 20 traffic violations a day, they have to be provided with the stage props and obstacle courses to achieve these targets. Otherwise how can they entrap those motorists who are so disgustingly law-abiding?
Anyway, it was recently confirmed by no less than the outgoing Treasury Secretary at a public forum that the fastest departure ticket was Rs. 500. Not entirely accurate. They politely tell you what the fine would be for the alleged transgression to give you a better idea of what to offer.
I’m sure you would choose to take the official citation to the post office in this totally unknown area and then go looking for the “cop shop” (again a wonderful Sri Lankan colloquialism) to retrieve your illegally-confiscated driving license.
Did you know, that they know, that you cannot afford to waste so much time? They are just being decent in offering an easy way out of something you probably didn’t do anyway. Don’t they deserve that little reward for being so considerate? Be a sport.
Consider yourself lucky that it is a traffic issue and not a port issue. Absolutely legitimate importers tell the writer that the standard “charge” of Rs. 50,000 per container has to be met even with documentation 100% in order. Or else bureaucratic delays in paperwork will incur demurrage in excess thereof!
Neat trick, so resourceful! You are offered an easy exit sans red tape at a getaway price. So quit complaining. Pay up and shut up or get stuck.
So do we need to go into school admissions at all? I thought not. Same old broken record.
May one suggest an official service charge at all public institutions, etc., to be distributed among the hardly-working public servants. Hotels do.
T. E., Kotte
