Delaying Tactics!

It’s another form of corruption…

Corruption is certainly now integral part of our life. We have to accept this reality and anyone who denies presence of corruption in our daily routine is denying the facts. I don’t know the past but corruption has a glorious existence and its future surely depends on unfolding vistas of our mindset, presently influenced by materialistic urge and diminishing values. Corruption cannot be eradicated overnight. However, it can be minimized and its influence contained to the minimum levels. Corruption has many undesirable elements and the most adverse element within its makeup is inefficiency.  It breeds, patronizes and boosts inefficiency in every aspect of life.
In our state the behavior and working pattern of most of the government officers and officials holding the coveted post is synonymic to corruption and inefficiency is their most prominent and valued asset. After abolition of autocracy, under the influence of nepotism and stained political patronage, corrupt elements invaded almost all sections of the system. With the passage of time they learned the trade of corruption and mastered it with their own innovative additions. The most trusted and time tested trick to lure gullible people towards corruption is ‘delay’; a technique to test the patience and endurance levels of the exploited. Delay and delaying technique is the ultimate tool to trap the target and subject him to parasitization without any mercy. Reducing and checking factor of delay can surely minimize corruption to considerable levels.
Jammu and Kashmir Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011 was a positive step towards discouraging delay and delaying tactics in public service provided within the administration. But unfortunately, like Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Act, Right to Information Act and many other laws to curb corruption and encourage transparency, this progressive law stands miniaturized and mutilated to the extent of diminution, making masses to suffer at the hands of few influential corrupt people. On papers this Act is applicable in many service sectors of the government but it is unable to curb the delaying tactics of unscrupulous elements flourishing with every passing day.
From the day I came into public life I have always opposed any kind of delay or delaying tactic in public service and treated any kind of delay as prelude to looming corruption. Few days back I lost my cool s but this anger was because of an unnecessary and willful delay in delivering the legitimate service by an officer and his office.
After many years I got much awaited substantial increase in my salary and the same was supposed to be implemented and necessary entries made in my service records. As usual, after making many appeasing and pleading request to the concerned, my pleas fell to the deaf ears. When the ice of deafness broke, the excuses came pouring and a series of delays and delaying tactics took the centre stage. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months of delay. The reasons were obvious—corruption via delay. The behavior of the authority concerned was against the code of justice and sense of duty.
Corruption cannot be eradicated overnight just by wielding any magic wand, but can be restricted by proper accountability in our system. And above all menace of delay in public services can be checked with time bond delivery system by strictly implementing the existing laws and making them broad based.