- Bribe Fighter
- 13 years ago
- 2158 views
Was it worth it? Wasting 3 days.
I did not want to pay a bribe to have the name transfer done.
At a bldg association meeting, the consensus was that this task would be an ordeal and best done by an agent. When I asked why, the answer was that the electric dept is very corrupt. The cost thro' an agent 3000-4000. For what. A simple name transfer which is clear since everything is legally in my name. The thought seemed ridiculous - to have to pay a bribe for a simple name change.
Well Mr ******* - the clerk at the S3 subdivision told me very clearly that I'm better of paying a bribe which I call a undocumented fee for service. Otherwise, in his words, it would take the whole day sitting on a bench , a trip to the local substation, a verification by the linesman sent by the very busy AE etc etc. He would take care of all of it.
My question is - Is this corruption? I would have been more than happy to go upto a counter and pay a higher fee that would take care of the process since at the end of the ordeal, ntohing changed except that the name changed in a computer system/file to reflect the current owner.
Mr ******* even pointed to a gentleman who had been doing the go around since the morning.
Anyways, I had to make a decision. I decided to do it myself. Voila - that's when my ordeal began. And Mr ******* kept his word.
I got the required documents along with the AE's report the first day. Needless to say, I waited for 3 hours for the AE who rules the substation like the king of the jungle.
The next step was to have the file approved by Mr. **********. It was his chance. The sale deed mentioned that I had paid the builder for the meter deposits etc but he was not going to have any of it. Katha papers, property tax receipts as well as everything else they asked for was not going to cut it. I had to get an NOC from the builder. This was discussed by his superior, him and a regular (an agent I presume) who frequents S3 substation in Bangalore. His superior was very clear. His words "Sale deed must say very clearly. If I am not convinced, get NOC". I got a little mad but did not show it, since I was being made to prove beyond any doubt that it was paid for.
The wording in the sale deed was "The buyer... shall pay for his pro rated share in the electric deposit, meter etc etc as needed by the electric dept". It does not get much clearer than that but the beetle nut chewing boss was not going to have any of it.
Day 3 made me get to the builder and have the NOC signed by a representative from the builder.
On coming back to S3, the entire scrutiny of my file started afresh. Mr ******* said that the sale deed had the director's name while the NOC had someone else's name.
This is when I lost it. Very cooly I told him that he had been making me dance for the last couple of days despite the sale deed being very clear. BESCOM in the NOC says that if the sale deed mentions the deposits, there is no need for an NOC. I also told him that the builder told me that BESCOM would give me the run around - and that the Karnataka govt has said no to private players in the electric sector. They are a very corrupt organization according to everyone around. He asked me the name of the builder. Were they going to pass the word around to have his permits delayed. Not sure but isn't this crazy. Everyone knows that BESCOM is corrupt. Everyone knows that govt's are corrupt. But we still keep them.
Don't you keep the garbage in the dustbin. And trash it everyday. Here we are being held hostage by the likes of Mr. ********** - a clerk at BESCOM.
Anyways, what I said hit him some place soft because he immediately gave me a receipt and told me to go ahead and pay the transfer fees.
Did the gamble of calling it corruption pay off? It did but is it worth it. After this, I was left with more questions than answers.
There are pictures of gods over every desk in a govt office. Which god were they really asking for mercy Or is it that they are robotically going thro' those rituals/motions.
What a sorry state. Had I gotten an agent to do it - I probably wouldn't have all these questions and a sad mind. WAS IT REALLY WORTH IT? You be the judge.