In winters when the bureaucracy goes for winter vacation to Jammu, it seems every office dons a cloak of invisibility. Whichever office you go to, you are met with the same casual response. The officials come to office for a small window period of 2-3 hours and gossip away the time by a hotly burning coal bukhari. It has been observed that senior officials of various departments go on extended leave to warmer Indian cities during winter and leave the authority to a junior officer. This junior officer often expresses his helplessness saying that he cannot take major decisions. Student community suffers the most. The examination sections of Colleges witness massive queues of students from the countryside. Some students while coming from far off places keep waiting in queues till afternoon but end up being disappointed as the clerks are seen busy gossiping about the political and social happenings. Just think of a poor student who has to spend 100 rupees as transportation fare and due to the casual approach of the clerk decides to come again the next day.
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Another thing which hurts the most is the class fourth employee telling you ‘boss is not here’ when you know very well that boss is very much there. It is this cloak of invisibility that senior officials in various departments like to wear during winter months. This has to be reiterated that winter is a month of hardships for Kashmir. Kashmir valley needs its higher officials to step up the gear and be present for the civil population as per the official norm. Why should a tax paying citizen be made to wait for days and weeks to have his pleas heard? Why should the law abiding citizens suffer because the sahib does not want someone to disturb him from watching his twitter feed. We hope Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha takes note of this laxity in duty and ensures that there is timely response to the problems faced by common people in winters.
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