Hunger strike, new way of getting things done from the Govt

Three days ago, came man threatened to sit on fast before any revenue dept office. Demand - his application for change of land records to his name from his mother is rejected b/c he did not pay.

We checked up and found he did not submit the mandatory survey sketch though notice is received by his mother who was applicant. Then he claimed that the sketch was given but the Village Accountant deliberately took it out of the file. Again because he did not pay the officer. Have asked him to give a photocopy of the sketch he submitted or an acknowledgment by any of the officer, he refused saying that he had submitted it, since he is fighting corruption, the govt should do his work.

To check his allegation we traced the old file taking much of time. This happened in 2007 and given the nature of record keeping in our offices, it is a himalayan task to recover records from the record room. This file was missing, I accused the taluka office of playing foul. The fact was that the record got mixed up in a different bundle. On examination of the file, it was found that no sketch is produced. Since he claimed that the sketch was submitted, we checked up the register in the taluka office which keeps a track of all survey sketches issued. No sketch is issued to him at any point of time.

Now he says, he will come to the taluka office, apply for the sketch by paying the required amount and then wait for the mandatory time period for getting the khata changed. He did not go ahead with his hunger strike.

I wonder, had he gone to the press alleging the misdeeds of the revenue officials, declaring as a crusader against corruption, who would have believed my story? I know the efficient and correct behaviour of the lower level revenue functionaries and efficiency in recovering the file is exceptional. There is a major feeling among the public that the bureaucracy does only wrong thins, it knows only to harass people and nothings moves without corruption. I think the members of the bureaucracy themselves are primarily responsible for this.