CL Jose
It’s quite natural that the upcoming polls season is bound to give a tough time to the political parties, especially for those leading the campaign from the front. On the one hand, it’s peak of summer with the mercury stubbornly staying above 40 c, on the other, several of the parties in the Opposition, especially the main one – Congress, is struggling to make the ends meet.
That said, the run-up to the polls has posed a weird threat to the common man too. Many of the government offices are turning their back to the people who visit there seeking different types of assistance from these offices.
Property tax
Obviously, these are offices the role of which can’t be substituted by some other systems in the country. Though it’s yet to be ascertained whether there’s any connection between property tax collection and polls, the Cochin Corporation office in Vyttila until a few days ago was not accepting the payment of property tax despite the sorry financial state of the state.
The people there said the system needed to be updated before they could start accepting taxes. “As you know the taxes have been raised by five per cent and hence the increase in tax needed to reflect in the system; once that is done we will inform you,” is what the stock response from them.
Village office too
But the village office’s audacious stance is what is intriguing. A parent of a prospective student who plans to immigrate to Australia for higher studies approched the Village office seeking a set of documents needed to apply for an education loan. But the office refused to help them.
His daughter needs around Rs40 lakh for her two-year post graduate course with a reputed university in Australia (Melbourne). The bank (a leading pvt sector bank) has consented to pass a education loan for that amount even without a collateral.
But since the University insists on a collateral-supported loan (the reason for this is incomprehensible), he now started the paper work which has to commence by getting some supporting documents of the property from the village office.
Apart from the encumbrance certificate ( to prove the property is free from any legal or financial obligations that could affect its ownership or transfer), two key documents need to be issued by the respective village office – namely, possession certificate and location sketch of the property to be offered as guarantee.
The officer concerned at the village told the parent whose only work during the past one or two weeks has been to run around to organize whatever needed for the bank finance, that nothing can be done until the elections are over.
“Most of our staff are on outside work related to the election arrangements,” the explanation was clear.
The desolate parent asked her(staff) where does she expect him to go for this paper which invariably needs to be issued by the village office.
She gave a good tutorial to him, “Elections are very important and the support from the Revenue Department is very crucial for its smooth conduct. What you can do now is, wait until the polls are over. Come after that; we will expedite your paper work.”
`Whom to complain, or if at all a complaint is registered, what’s the use. This year she can’t think of getting enrolled in the university. Luckily, next year is not an election year, I guess,” he heaved a sigh of relief.
