Bhrastachar Ghar Jao!
Meghalaya is on cue when it comes to supporting Team Anna and his crusade against corruption in the country. During the recent support drive for Anna by some local supporters here in Khyndailad the activists had a tough time shouting their slogans in Hindi.
These local supporters, whenever they saw a tourist from outside started insisting their fellow supporters to say their slogans in Hindi. A former Shillongite from Laitumkhrah, who is now residing in Guwahati, said that as soon he landed in Shillong he went enquiring for the reason behind the crowd.
A supporter who noticed him and other tourists on the spot asked his fellowmen, “Kren Ha Ka Ktien Hindi” (say your slogans in Hindi). The activists who were shouting in English earlier restarted in Hindi and they went “Bhrastachar Ghar Jao” (corruption go home) even as the tourists guffawed.
The former Shillongite who came to the town on a business trip said that he has never heard of such sloganeering anywhere else in the country. Well, as the popular saying goes some things happen only in India. Similarly there are a few other things “that happen only in Shillong”.
GPO
The GPO Customer Care Centre here is nothing more than a room with all amenities but bereft of workforce.
The manpower supposed to work in this department is seen loitering and gossiping in the opposite hall that also houses the Senior Superintendent of Posts in one corner. If anybody finds any official sitting at his/her seat then they pass the buck to the ground floor saying, “There is also a counter there where you can give your complaints.” And if someone dares to disrupt these “blissful government officials” from their gossips then he/she will have to face their ire and forget about any redressal of complaints.
From their behavior it looks like the government of India is paying them for shirking work. The situation deep inside the ground floor of the GPO (the inside room, behind the front counters) is at its worst.
One elderly gentleman who went to receive his maturity amount with his documents was told to get a signature on a specified location on the document by a table clerk.
As he was told by the kwai infested clerk, the old man’s document was blotted with the “red fluid” gushing out of the clerk’s mouth. The old man, whose spectacles also had to bear the sudden drift of sputum left the scene in a huff. The clerk, after she did not find any spittoon flooded the floor near her table with the red fluid. What a sense of hygiene!
Crowded Reception
The reception at the Meghalaya Police Headquarters here behind Raitong Building is infested with police personnel, whereas senior police personnel are hardly found in their cabins.
This is the experience of both commoners and the media.
A resident of West Khasi Hills who visited this headquarter said that if they have more manpower in the reception they should be sent for other serious duties as police often say there is manpower shortage in the state for maintaining traffic and law and order.
The other issue is the perennial absence of senior police officers at headquarters. It is noticed that quite often these officers take long lunch hour breaks.
A person who visited the headquarters after lunch hour to meet a police officer was told by the reception that the officer is away for lunch and may not return for the day.
This has become the habit of many police officers here. Maybe lunch extends to a siesta is what some conjure!
Perhaps the home department here has to install CCTVs to keep an eye on the movement of senior police officers because if these officers are not disciplined and punctual how can they instill discipline down the line?