“Uppar ki Kamai”

I went to the registration office last Thursday for registering my new flat. From my past experiences and advices from people on dealing with typical government officials, a broker seems inevitable. Whether it was my driving license, passport or getting registration for my flat, going through a broker/agent has worked brilliantly.

Morning 9.30 I was at the registration office with my parents; the broker did all the settings and our token number was 2. Though office is scheduled to start by 10AM, the “babu” came late and it was 10.30 by the time our number came. In no time form filling was complete - all computerised work (in Marathi), photo was taken via webcam, corrections in the form done with out any “jhick pick”, PAN number accepted with out a copy of PAN card, signatures taken in different forms at different tables in just 15 minutes - I was impressed.

Had I went on my own, without a broker, I would have ATLEAST returned back 4 times.

The authorities accept 30 tokens in a day, and even if I consider they are getting a bare minimum of Rs.50 per form as down the table income, the earning is Rs.1,500 per day, which comes to Rs.30,000 per month, considering 5 days a week. Pretty handsome earnings! This will be the case in most of the government departments. That’s the cost we pay for buying time (or they charge for doing work, which they are supposed to do anyways).

Government taxes us and their servants eat away the remaining.