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October 25, 2005
The blog I write out of mere hatred and shame - part 2
Finally we got our father’s death certificate, and tried submitting it to post office for the formalities to be completed for the transfer of pension to my mother’s name. They needed another certificate now – legal heirship certificate. What does that mean? It is a certificate that will confirm that the person who died was my father, and his wife was my mother, and that they had three children. And this certificate will be signed by three personals – the Village Administrative Officer, the Revenue Inspector and finally the Tahsildar!
We take the filled up application to the VAO (Village Administrative Officer), he stares at it, puts it aside, and ask us to come after 4 days. We ask, what is the process? And he replies – few people will come for inquiry to your place. We innocently shake our heads in affirmation and go home. None come for inquiry. On the 4th day we take our uncle along with us, and the VAO says the inquiry team has just left to your place. My uncle hands over Rs 100 to him, and the VAO gets irritated, and I was taken aback. I thought at last I have met one honest government official.
He replies, hope you are aware about the inflation rates, give me Rs 200, he asserts!!! My uncle hands over another 50, and he smiles, and at last ask us to take our seats. This time, he asks, “so what is the name of the person who died?” We give him the answer and he says come in the evening and it will be ready. So what about the inquiry part? All lies!!! We get the document signed, paying another Rs 50 to the peon who fills the form and move to the Revenue Inspector Office.
The Revenue Inspector is a lady. My sister is happy, hoping that things would be easier here as women are uncorrupt - it seems. It is a place where at least 100 people come and go, and there is not a single chair or bench for the people to sit. There is only chair, on which the RI sits, and rest of the world should stand in front of her!! She asks for more documents, which would prove that my father had only 3 children. My uncle talks to her, and she finally puts her signature. My uncle hands over another Rs 100. My sister thought she wouldn’t take, but I was damn sure she would. She said thanks, and accepted the money. Of course there was a major difference between the VAO and the RI. VAO took the money to do his job, and the RI took the money after the job was done. I should agree that women indeed are better government employees.
And the last part was getting a signature from the Tahsildar.
These are few reasons why I had no time to update my blogs for the last 30 days. I honestly need to thank the government officials and the system because the torture they gave us helped us to over come the trauma that our father’s death left behind.
To be continued……
Posted by Kenni at October 25, 2005 08:23 AM