Bangladeshi Bureaucrats:Are They Actually Public Servants?
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size. They carryout the day-to-day implementation of enacted policies for central government agencies, such as postal services, education and healthcare administration, and various regulatory bodies. In the broad sense, it refers to all the permanent employees of the government right from the peons and clerks to the top level officials. Presently, we use the term in its broader dimension.
In general sense and according to theories,bureaucrats play key role in running the public administration.Actually,they run all the public or private organizations of a country.It will take a lot of time if i want to talk about the roles played by bureaucrats. It is the responsibility of the bureaucracy to carry out and implement the policies of the government. Good policies and laws can really serve their objectives only when these are efficiently implemented by the civil servants.Another important role of bureaucrats is keeping close public relation. The era of modern welfare state and democratic politics has made it essential for the government to keep close relations with the people of the state. The need for maintaining active and full public relations is a vital necessity of every state. The civil servants play an active role in this sphere.There are many other roles.But bureaucrats of Bangladesh,are they really doing their respective duties?Are they serving the citizens in a true sense?Regarding these questions,now i’ll share an experience of mine.
Last winter,my family decided to go on a vacation trip to India.Everyone had passports in my family except me.So i decided to apply for a passport.As it is usually issued by a country’s government, verifying the identity and nationality of its holder.So After i went to the regional passport office of my district.It was situated at one corner of the city,far from the town.The very first question arose is my mind was “Why is the passport office so far from the main town?” The next crucial problem was the infrastructure. When i entered the building,i got confused where to go or which room to go as there were too many rooms.If the process was explained properly then, considering the crowd it would not have taken more than two hours to complete all the formalities for passport. However, it was not possible due to bad infrastructure of the building. For example, after standing in a line for hours the passport seekers were asked to fill up the online passport form and for that, they were asked to visit room number 333.It sounds simple, right? But here is where it gets complicated — in which floor the room is situated? I asked 2–3 people in which room i had to go to apply for a passport. You might think a day cannot get any worse but another terror awaits you out there — the behavior of the officials. That is the main thing i need you to concern about.However,when i was entering the exact room i was told to go,i heard a loud shout.I was wondering that who was shouting in that manner.I saw an official shouting at an middle aged woman.It was understandable that the woman was probably uneducated and could not get the instructions clearly. but that did not make her subject to manner-less behavior from that official.He again shouted at her saying — “Do you understand what I am saying? How many times do I have to repeat that your scarf cannot cover your forehead. I will rip out your scarf if you don’t remove it!” The irony of that incident was that the official was a female, wearing a burka and she was yelling at a passport seeker for wearing a burka. I was witnessing this while waiting to complete some required formalities for my passport.This is not only the scenario of that particular passport office,it is still happening also in many passport offices.We have to get passports in exchange of manner-less behavior.This is what we get in the name of service from the so called “CIVIL SERVANTS”.That incident left me astonished.
According to Max Weber, Bureaucracies depend upon written rules and communication. Effective bureaucracies depend on rules based on rational examination of problems and development of the most effective method of accomplishing objectives. Successful bureaucracies regularly review organization charts, employee policies, memos and methodologies — such as lean production techniques — to refine procedures and policies and improve efficiency and consistency of result.The story i shared above doesn’t go with this characteristic.The bureaucrats are not behaving according to their professionalism.
That’s it,i have shared my experience in a passport office.Please go through it and share your opinion.
