- Bribe Fighter
- 13 years ago
- 2709 views
Threatened with violence for not accepting the offer of 'help' and resisting the tout
I was visiting Ahmedabad RTO with my father (50s) to help him renew his license. We were standing in queue (about 25 positions away) to enter the main hall. I asked my father to go and sit in a shade, while I held his place. The main entrance is manned by a slow lady who makes note of what you want to do, stamps your application, and directs you to right window. Some sort of babu comes every hour to give 'token' numbers on applications, so that people with higher token numbers can decide to try their luck some other time. While the token-giving babu was approaching me, suddenly, a tout thrust his client in front of me. I expressed my displeasure. The tout told me that for 200 rupees, he can help me as well. The way it works is that the tout arranges the token and then takes his client straight to the window for processing.
I resisted the tout and client. The tout and client first tried to ignore me and then threatened with violence if I continued arguing. The people around me stood muted. I wished I had support of 5 more people and I could have blocked the main entrance.
Needless to say, the babu and sentries were with the tout. The client got his token number and was directly taken to the main entrance. Those without touts were given the lower priority to enter. I had to leave my father in queue to attend to a bank business before banks close. In total, I stood 1.5 hours in queue and my father for 1 hour, even though we were about 25 positions away from main entrance.
Alas, I don't live in Ahmedabad any longer. Otherwise, I would organize a sit-in in front of the queue to res