'Todbir' seekers reign supreme
Thursday, 9 April 2009
We have an extraordinary cultural trait and that is 'todbir' or lobbying that is exerting influence for whatever it may be that the person wants. It could mean putting in a good word to get the job done or direct order for its execution, from getting a contract to a job.
A powerful or influential person is always cultivated by those who need to get something done and so senior government officials are cultivated by those who need to get something done.
But very often this lobbying gets out of hand as is the case now. It should be mentioned that all the 'todbir' seekers do not cultivate the officials but try to influence them because they mention that they have been sent there by a leader or another and the job should be done.
There was a report in the media the other days that the security personnel -- police, etc -- at the Secretariat were having an extremely tough time handling the hordes of 'todbir' seekers.
This is not all. Now even the civil servants are complaining that they cannot do their proper work because of the pressure of the 'todbir-karis'. Just as the cops at the gate cannot stop them all so cannot the officers and that is because of a common reason: all these people drop names of different political leaders and for obvious reasons they cannot all be ignored.
If the government is serious about rooting out corruption (taken with a hunk of salt by many citizens) it should better clean up their acts and tell those leaders to reign in their 'todbir' seekers.
Shamsul Alam
Uttara Model Town
Dhaka
A powerful or influential person is always cultivated by those who need to get something done and so senior government officials are cultivated by those who need to get something done.
But very often this lobbying gets out of hand as is the case now. It should be mentioned that all the 'todbir' seekers do not cultivate the officials but try to influence them because they mention that they have been sent there by a leader or another and the job should be done.
There was a report in the media the other days that the security personnel -- police, etc -- at the Secretariat were having an extremely tough time handling the hordes of 'todbir' seekers.
This is not all. Now even the civil servants are complaining that they cannot do their proper work because of the pressure of the 'todbir-karis'. Just as the cops at the gate cannot stop them all so cannot the officers and that is because of a common reason: all these people drop names of different political leaders and for obvious reasons they cannot all be ignored.
If the government is serious about rooting out corruption (taken with a hunk of salt by many citizens) it should better clean up their acts and tell those leaders to reign in their 'todbir' seekers.
Shamsul Alam
Uttara Model Town
Dhaka