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When you are taken for uncalled-for 'rides'
AK Faezul Huq
1/15/2005
IN our blessed country, you can always expect to be 'taken for a ride' -- a ride which is however quite different from the fun-frolic-laden free rides provided by friends and relations that we are normally so used to. In fact the rides that this writer is talking about today are rather 'bumpy', uncalled for and quite furrowed. But then there is hardly anything that you can do otherwise also, under the given conditions. The government, democrat or autocrat, and the Non-government Organisations, each one in turn, sometimes become hell bent on taking the public for a nasty ride. Added to those blessed agencies, we have countless politicians in our country, from the top to the bottom of the ladder; from non-descript to the prominent ones, who invariably promise a free flow of 'milk and honey' when they restlessly campaign for their elections, which in turn takes them to the highest rung of the ladder in personal life; but once elected, they go back on their promises easily. You will see a completely different, transformed man with a rather uncouth face and hear all kinds of alibis, backed by weird excuses when the real time to redeem those [election] pledges comes. Quite interestingly, the 'Messiah' which the public usually comes across during the regular election campaigns, vanishes all of a sudden.
The helpless, innocent citizens are simply left in the lurch for everything to start anew from square one -- to wait for another election maybe. Suddenly one realises that he or she has been taken for a 'disgusting ride'. However, this peculiar conduct of the political 'big-wigs' and stalwarts are indeed varied. Either on an individual level or even on a national level they purposely default. For instance, take the case of the ruling BNP and its alliance partners. With election pledges galore, they have easily managed to forget most of their commitments made before the public. Even after three [comfortable] years in office, they have not been able to find it convenient even till today to separate the judiciary from the executive -- a pledge that should not have taken more than a year at the most to implement after the spadework was already done by the last Caretaker Government. Of course, the question of the degree of sincerity being present in such efforts needs to be considered also. And that is just one instance of taking the entire nation for a 'bumpy' ride by the government itself where neither the common man nor the highest judiciary has been spared. But just look at the overall developments. Neither the ministers of the Republic nor the acquiescing bureaucrats seem to be least concerned about the serious lapses so far. Distress over guilt seems to have totally vanished from their souls (and faces).
To continue with our story of 'rides,' let us take up the sordid tale of a semi-government organisation -- called 'Rajuk' -- under the ministry of works which somehow has a long-standing and ill reputation of harassing the citizens (of any caste or creed) on different counts, day in and day out. Rajuk's contribution to the 'National Corruption Grid' (NCG), if this scribe is allowed to coin that phrase, is quite significant with almost 80 per cent of its staff (at all times) leading a comfortable life and owning prime lands and buildings in Dhaka city and its adjoining areas. Like its other sister organisations, no paper or file moves even a centimetre unless accompanied by a 'packet'. And in most of the cases, the recipient of those 'packets' and the file both vanish in due course of time, which obviously means, one has to start the overall exercise afresh! Perhaps, it would not be out of place to mention here the heart-rending story of those unfortunate citizens who deposited their hard earned money years ago just for owning a piece of land in a decent location of the metropolis. 'Rajuk', as a matter of fact, when it was 'DIT' took huge sums of money as initial installment from all types of Bangladeshi citizen more than 25 years ago. That blessed list also includes innumerable Bangladeshis who have either temporarily or permanently settled overseas in search of greener pastures. Unfortunately, even till today no one exactly knows the fate of that dream plot of land in Baridhara, Nikunjo or Uttara Township and when it will be finally allotted.
And if at anytime someone wants to know about the fate of his or her deposited money or progress in allotment of the plots, the exit door is impolitely shown. On such occasions, you won't notice even the minimum courtesy at any level. Which obviously brings us to the pertinent question: How long should we allow this type of uncivilised attitude on the part of public servants to continue? Isn't the callous attitude of the Rajuk officials an intentional lapse amounting to complete inefficiency and also an act of taking the innocent citizens for an uncalled for ride? And pray, what did Rajuk eventually do with that huge amount of money collected from different individuals -- a big chunk of it in foreign exchange? Well naughty people say that it has been kept in various bank accounts and the huge interest accrued from the fixed deposit is spent generously for the welfare of the Rajuk officials and employees. Bravo! But what has the Ministry of Works -- the parent ministry-after all done so far, knowing fully well about the lapses, inefficiency, and rude behaviour of those sitting comfortably in that huge ten storeyed tower hamlet? Or should we assume that the above facts are not known to the ministry or ever discussed in its corridors? Please tell us frankly, how long should the innocent citizens be made to suffer further and that also purposely?
Next, on the list we have our national flag carrier -- Bangladesh Biman -- which has been pampered extensively by each successive government so far. Once again we have yet another colossal, autonomous organization which has been constantly looking for some lame excuse to hide its own faults. Only the other day, the national newspapers carried an interesting comment by none other than the Finance Minister himself who termed Biman's operation as "most inefficient with a poor overall management." The Minister-in-charge of Civil Aviation and Biman who was present in that high profile meeting, and was himself censored by Janab Saifur Rahman, is reported to have confessed that his "orders to collect 25 per cent fare in advance for booking seats" was also flouted. He however blamed the nexus of the travel agents and some Biman officials for the 'racket' relating to empty seats and consequent losses incurred by Biman. It is reported that even the finance minister was denied a seat when actually the aircraft flew with empty seats!
Despite all the short-comings, I would like to pay my sincere compliments to the pilots and engineers -- no exceptions -- who have performed so well during all these years and have indeed kept their overall standard much above the average, notwithstanding the serious constrains under which they have to normally work. Kudos therefore should really go to them for having performed so well with outdated and old, risky aircrafts under trying and difficult conditions. But in spite of all that has been said above, we cannot avoid discussing the exorbitant and non-competitive air-fare structure of our national airline which has contributed a great deal in bringing not only a bad name but has actually deprived itself of permanent clients also. Why should someone who can get a Dhaka-New York-Dhaka return air ticket for as low as 900-1100 US dollars, pay another 100 to 250 dollars more on the same route, and that also without a free 'lay-over' at Dubai or some other attractive destination on the way? In fact you can get as low fare as US $700 for a return trip from New York if you simply make the payment in hard currency at the overseas counters. Even the Dhaka-Calcutta Dhaka fare becomes reasonable if the ticket is purchased in Calcutta or some other city outside Bangladesh. But what have we done so far to combat such competition?
Our story doesn't end here. Next on the list of 'rides' is of course the Dhaka City Corporation [DCC]. Instead of providing proper services to its citizens, the DCC has become another big contributor to the National Corruption Grid. The only difference between DCC and other organisations is: while others still indulge in corruption somewhat slyly, at DCC everything is done openly and with a militant touch. Mayor, and those at the helm of affairs, without any particular political affiliation, have contributed immensely in turning it into a city of three 'Ms' --Mastans, Mosquitoes and Masks -- from its historical reputation of being a city of mosques. If taxes have not been increased over the years, the services have surely deteriorated substantially and corruption is so brazen that decent people keep themselves away from that huge mansion at all times which is almost a replica of the Buckingham Palace. Similarly, we have WASA -- the big name with insignificant performance -- which has only produced 'CBA' 'Netas' [leaders] so far. Do the citizens know exactly what type of water is being supplied by the WASA to its clients? Is there any agency to check the amount of germs and level of pollution in the water and sewerage line? Is there any concern for the future when the population of the mega city will cross the 20 million mark after 2010?
And the least said about the PDB, DESA and now DESCO, the better. Nowadays, they say do not say that they will be going for 'load-shedding' even in the winter. The electricity people have intelligently devised a new name -- 'maintenance work'. And that is done with or without notice and for hours together. Again who cares! After all maintenance work is going on and you are not supposed to question where. The other day I tried to find out the exact location and moved around for 40 minutes with two other witnesses in the Baridhara Park Road area where the so-called maintenance work was reportedly going on but could not find the blessed site at all. And then you have those big, inflated bills coming in almost regularly. It is no more the four-figure bill to which you are so used. No matter whether you are using the A.C/heaters or not, the starting point of the DESCO bill is almost always above Tk 15,000 plus. And by chance, if you complain, you are politely asked to supply your own meter and repeat the act if you have the courage to complain once again. Above all that, continuous voltage fluctuation simply keeps on damaging the electrical gadgets, day in, day out with residents and clients keeping mum, because there is no remedy and none to listen.
Finally, we like to conclude today with the mischievous activities of the redoubtable private cell phone operators. High call charges, poor services with consistent network problems and abrupt disruptions, all combine to give them a bad name. Once I was told that there would be no charge for any incoming call if its duration were less than one minute. I was so excited that I made it a point to end all incoming calls within that time. But I found to my utter astonishment that I was taken for a big ride. At least the detailed bill, which I had procured after paying extra Tk 150 or so did not indicate by any chance that I had spoken for less than one minute with anyone calling from the other side. Then I was told that it was 30 seconds [free period], and once again I innocently believed in what looked as an innocuous message because an official of one of the cell phone companies was himself telling me that. It was almost like hearing from the horse's mouth. Unfortunately, nothing of that sort happened, although I had tried to curtail all my conversation within 25 seconds or so. What a ride after all! And by God, they are so particular about the outstanding bills. Without even sending you one or a courtesy message to that effect, the "line is religiously and temporarily disconnected," without even giving you a fair chance to deposit the money in the bank. But then there seems to be no respite. The T&T cell phones, its call charges and services, I bet will be even worse. Whether the minister concerned and the T&T officials were 'managed' or not is not our concern or headache today. Our headache is: when shall we get mobile phone services at civilised rates which are prevalent in our neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan? That indeed seems to be a real distant dream.
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