Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Recently a piece of news reported in the newspapers that the brokers at the passport offices will get legitimized for their work and service. If that is so then it would be very good positive news among the many frustrating news we are getting in our everyday life. High officials of the Home ministry made this comment to the news reporters a couple of weeks back. Nowadays huge numbers of people come to passport offices in different places of Bangladesh for procuring their passports. All of them are not much educated to know everything and formalities to get passports. For that reason they depend on those people for passports. Those people help those who come to passport office for getting passports. Keeping themselves hassle-free they are ready to spend a handsome amount of money for getting their passports. In the passport offices’ surroundings huge people wander from one corner to another and they keep on their eagle-eyes to the general people who come to passport office for procuring passports.
We see this picture in other service providing offices in many places in the country. Those are BRTA, Govt. Hospitals, Sub-registry offices, Land offices and different embassies of foreign countries in Dhaka. Apart from the BRTA and passport offices brokers also gather in the premises of government hospitals and one can find them more in other government service providing offices. A good number of people are involved in these work and they live on this profession commonly called ‘Dalal’ (brokers). The brokers working in BRTA and passport offices are prominent and one can easily get them if s/he goes there. A number of people are also working as brokers in the surroundings of Indian visa centre at Jamuna Future Park. Law enforcers sometimes chase them and sometimes overlook their activities.
Presently there is no fixed rate of money for their service. They always try to take as much money as they can from the service seekers. In these activities many of the service seekers have ample chances to be cheated. But it is also true that a good number of people are getting hassle-free service by this system. This profession has no recognition from the end of appropriate authority. Similarly at Rajuk office, People are facing hassles and some unavoidable irritations and complexities. It has become such an office that everyone who goes there for any service has to spend some extra money and it has become a convention now and this situation is now open secret. One who sits in front chairs of the officers for any service can come to this perception that the officers or executives do not have strong control over their subordinates. In this situation other people who are acquainted and much versed in the Rajuk office take chances. They catch the service-seekers and make contact to them for smoothly completion of their service. Doing this sort of work with connivance of subordinate staff the service-seekers have to spend a big amount of money out of the normal expenses. This is being done openly in this office and not considered as flimsy one.
In the government Public hospitals in Dhaka and other big cities brokers are very active. They wait in front of the main gate of the hospitals and surroundings watching everyone patient-like and ask them for any help. Being tempted many patient and people with them talk to the broker about the many issues they face in the hospitals. Different time it was reported in the national newspapers that those persons are deputed by the some private clinics and private hospitals in the city. For this work they get a handsome amount of money from the clinics/hospitals authority. These brokers tell the patient and persons with them about problems and inconveniences of the government public hospitals and tempting them to be admitted in the private clinics of their choice. They tell convenience and usefulness and good environment of the private clinics. In this way people and patients who are not much acquainted in Dhaka city and hospitals get tempted and they have to spend a huge amount of money for the treatment which are not that much necessary.
In the premises of sub-registry offices a huge number of Muhuri or Writers are working and in this way they are earning money. They have their recognized association and they are also regimented by a kind of customs or conventions set by their association. One can find these people in every sub-registry offices. Some people of this group are used to extract more money from the service-seekers. But by and large majority of them follow the set-rules of their association. In this way they are helping people who come to those offices for different work. By this process both parties get benefited. The service-seekers get their much expected service and the people who work there for the service-seekers get a reasonable amount of money from those people.
The expatriate labors and medical tourists need sometimes emergency visa for their jobs and treatment in abroad. There is a strong chance to be cheated and spend unreasonable amount of money to procure such visas from the embassy concerned. Many travel agents are doing this to ease the hassles of the expatriate labors and medical tourist. So the functions of these agents should be more formalized and monitored other than the existing state. If that is so, there will be fewer chances to be cheated. The visa agents of Indian High Commission are functioning in many districts. They collect passports from the visa seekers and after completion all the formalities they submit those passports to the visa officers of the High Commission. After getting visa seal they distributed these passports to the persons concerned. This practice is a good system to get out of hassle and long queue of Indian High Commission. This System should be monitored by the appropriate authority so that there might be fewer chances to be cheated.
It is an open secret that brokers are functioning in passport offices, BRTA offices, Public hospitals, Registry offices, Land offices, Rajuk, Titas Gas, and WASA etc. But the hassle in the passport office has come to the notice of the appropriate authority and that is the Ministry of Home Affairs. A couple of weeks back Home Minister told the media that it was under consideration that the brokers working in the passport offices would get legal backup for their work. Passport authority and Home Ministry are working on this to formalize their work. People will be much benefited if it is implemented. So it might be a good decision for the common people and at the same time the brokers wandering in and around passport offices would get recognition for their work which can enhance their social strata.
Gradually the brokers in other offices such as BRTA, Rajuk, Registry office, Land office and hospitals should get formal recognition for their work. Ultimately it would be a win-win situation for both the parties that are brokers and service-seekers. In this circumstances we have to wait few more months to see how the appropriate authority work on this issue and what regulations/manuals are framed for this burning problems.
(Dr. Rumy is former civil servant and freelancer).
