A COMPLAINT THAT WENT UNHEEDED

 Shri. K. Rajan,

Minister for Revenue and Housing
Govt of Kerala
Trivandrum                                                                                                                           7^th September 2023
 
Respected Sir,

COMPLAINT
 
I take the liberty of writing to you as I strongly feel you have to be aware of what happens in the offices under your control. I beg your pardon for using English instead of the official language that is my mother tongue.
 
I visited the Village Office,  Kadakampally, Thiruvananthapuram today, 7^th September2023 for remitting land tax for the year 2023-24 at 11.30 AM.  I enquired with the official at the reception counter where I could remit the land tax.  She directed me to the official at the extreme end. I waited for my turn there. When the person in front was dealt with, I requested the official to accept the tax. She told me I have to go to the Sir at the other end. There were two persons ahead of me in the queue. When they had moved off I presented Five Land Tax receipts of the previous year to the Sir. The properties were in the names of three members of our family. To my utter surprise, the Sir told me he could not accept the tax as there were five receipts. Further he added there was a queue behind me. When I counted later there were six people behind me. The Sir advised me to go and remit the tax at Akshaya Centre. When I asked him where the Akshaya Centre was situated the reply was, he did not know. As I moved off disappointed, a person in the queue told me the Akshaya Centre was fifty feet across the road.
 
When I reached the Akshaya Centre, they told me they would accept the tax there. But there was a hitch. They could not do anything without electricity. The supply had gone off when they had opened for the day. Though they had registered a complaint there had been no response from KSEB, Pettah till then. There were quite a number of people there waiting for services. I chose to weight it out. It was 11.50 AM. As I waited there, I could hear them complaining repeatedly to the KSEB. The public too took up the cause and they too had complained to KSEB. At 1 pm two employees of KSEB reached the Akshaya Centre. They rectified the glitch in about twenty minutes. Once the power supply was restored, the Akshaya Centre sprang into life and they needed just ten minutes to accept the payment Rs.960.00 from me. I left the Akshaya Centre at 1.45pm. Kindly look at the herculean effort to remit taxes to the Government.
 
I just wonder why the Sir at the Village Office refused to accept the tax payment from me.  I feel he had forgotten that the cash I remit would add to the State’s kitty whereby it would form a part of his salary. Government, I believe is for the people and not for the Sirs like him alone.
 
Before reaching the Village Office, I had visited the Zonal Office of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation at Venpalavattom to remit the building tax for our residence and the residence of my son. The official was quite friendly. While he could accept the tax for the house in Kadakampally Ward, he was unable to accept it for the Pettah Ward. When he referred the issue to his superior,  the unfriendly supervisor at once told me to proceed to the Corporation office at Palayam. When I told the friendly official that taxes for both the houses were remitted at that office the previous year, he asked me to wait. I saw him searching in the computer and finally he told me the tax could be accepted there. He collected the tax and issued the receipts.
 
My request is that the Government must post friendly officials at the counters that engage the public.
 
I narrated the two incidents along with the indifference of KSEB with a view to make you aware of what the common man is going through when he approaches Government offices for essential services. Personally, I have found  the remittance of taxes due to the Government has been an ordeal all through these years.
 
I will indeed be happy if you can alter the cruel mindset, of the officials who are well paid, for the better.
 
Yours Sincerely
Abraham Jacob
House No 28
NSS Karayogam Road
Anayara PO
Thiruvananthapuram 695029
 
Phone. 9447253532