- Bribe Hotline
- 13 years ago
- 9408 views
Every patwari ask for money they call it their official fees, for any revenue related work like getting a copy of revenue account, measuring the land for distribution among brothers etc, change of na
It all depends upon you. If you take some simple precautions and are willing to be patient, you need not pay a bribe to anyone to obtain something that is your right.
Here are some simple tips how to avoid a bribe taking situation.
(1)Do your homework before you approach a government office for anything. For example, go to the website of the department concerned, spend a little time understanding the rules and regulations. If the department has FAQs, please read them thoroughly. If the department has a citizens charter under which they commit to complete a particular job within a specific time, then carry this with you.
(2)Do not set out to do something illegal. For instance, if you are buying a property, or a flat, it is better to buy it with money paid by cheque. Again, when you venture out in your vehicle, carry all the papers with you.
(3)Do not go to middlemen. In almost every transaction, there are middlemen who operate, such as builder’s agents, touts in the RTOs office and the sub-registrar’s office. Avoid them.
(4) If somebody tries to approach you to pay a bribe, please take the following approach:
(a) Do not be submissive. Look confident. Look him in the eye. Ask him for his name, call him by his name. Do not call him –‘sir’. Be polite but do not show unnecessary respect. Be firm and confident.
(b) Tell him clearly what you want and that you are applying in the prescribed format. Also tell him that you suspect that things will move only if you pay a bribe. Tell him very clearly, that you will not pay a bribe.
c) If he asks you for money, then loudly, so that others also hear what you are saying, say that you will give him a bribe only if he gives you a receipt. Or make it very clear that you will not pay him one paisa.
(5) Try to tackle the government officers as a group, never alone. People in corrupt offices get a little worried when you go as a group.
(6) Be patient, when faced with delaying tactics. When an official is consistently unavailable in office, leave a letter that says (for example) that we came to visit the official at the time and date specified but that he was not available. Please also say that his assistant told us to come again on another date (to be specified). Such letters will make the official feel that he must take special care of your work – that we are people he must not trifle with.
(7) Do not submit any applications or papers, without obtaining a written acknowledgment that such papers have been submitted.
(8) Do not accept any oral instructions from any government official. If any government official speaks of a procedure, that you do not know of or is not in the rule book, then ask him to show the government rule under which he is dealing with any application that you make. If he does not do so, you must (a) write a letter saying that they demanded these papers and seek to know the written instructions under which these are mandatory. (b) If there is no response, file RTI applications to find our whether such a written instruction exists. (c) Use RTI Act to find out whether such papers have been demanded from other applicants.in this regard.
A hint here: It we are asked to bring some additional papers, and then an official offers to do the work without these additional papers for a bribe, then it is conclusive proof that such papers are unnecessary in the first place.
(9) Talk about going to senior officials of the department, as also the Lokayukta too, with a complaint, in case your work is not done. Please mention the names of higher officials. Most people who engage in petty corruption are also cowards! They will immediately do the work.
(10) Also be ready to send complaints to the public grievance cell (also available for many departments on their websites) with all details. Do this on a weekly basis, till people do your work.
(11) Carry recording instruments; even a mobile will do. Every conversation will be recorded and then documented, including time and day. (This might be considered a little tedious – but this is very useful, because we all tend to forget very quickly, what was said).
The purpose of the above steps is two fold
(a) These improve our confidence, knowledge and negotiating ability
(b) It disrupts the normal behaviour pattern to which corrupt people are used. They expect you to be unsure and confused when you visit an office. By going there confidently, in a group and speaking bluntly as one, we are disrupting their pattern and making the conversation run according to our pattern. We control the conversation! Once you do all this, most officials back off and immediately do your work. They are always afraid of knowledgeable people.
(12) You can also have some fun by trying some Gandhigiri. It has been known to work. For instance, you could pay officials concerned in zero rupee notes, which can be downloaded from the web!
Based upon more than 1500 ‘I didn’t pay a bribe’ experiences of citizens reported on the site, we have prepared the ten commandments of avoiding corruption, which is a powerful and effective citizens advisory.
They are available for download on our site http://ipaidabribe.com/downloads/ipab_tencommandments.pdf