“Everyone is equal before law and Right to equality”- These are the rights of a citizen of a democratic country but I no longer belong to this country is what I feel after the incident which I am going to brief out. Yes, I was sad, depressed but now I am not. Why??? Because I have changed the way I used to act. At one time of my life I was totally against corruption (any form). The problem with me is that I want to see the change happen quickly and when it doesn’t happen I get depressed. That’s why I have decided to be a part of what you call corrupt system. I ask how can we control corruption or make our country corruption free??? Corruption has many forms apart from taking/bribing someone. I work in IT Company and my company pays me 1000 bugs per day for 8 hours and instead of doing work I do gossiping, sleeping, then that is also corruption. So if we really want to make our country corruption free then every individual need to understand this which seems impossible. So I would say “खाओ और खाने दो”.
During my stay at college my father used to force me that I should apply for passport else it would be very difficult to make it once I am into job( As if my company was waiting to parcel me to Europe as soon as I land at my job J). Being a lazy person (in matters of paper/office work only) I obviated the assigned task till my final year of B.Tech. Then one day Mr DK Bagga who is much lazier than me told me that he had applied for his passport. I was shocked and the very next morning I went to get me one Passport form. I got all the relevant documents and finally in Jan 29th I submitted my application exactly after one month later than Mr DK Bagga. In Feb ending I think Bagga (बहुत इज़्ज़त से नाम ले लिया) received his Police verification from Malaviya Nagar थाना, Jaipur (place where I applied for my passport). He called me that you need to come along with me to थाना. That was the first time in my life I visited थाना. The इनस्पेक्टर साहिब verified all the documents once again and asked me and another friend to sign in place of witness. उसके बाद आँखों ही आँखों मैं इशारा हूआ और १०० की हरी पत्ती बग्गे के हाथ से उधर चली गयी| Now I waited impatiently for my verification to be done so that I will be having my passport in my naked hands just like Bagga. As expected I too received my passport verification and had too part with 200 bugs to the इनस्पेक्टर साहिब (may be they have increased their rates). Now I was happy that I will be getting my passport very soon but things were not so smooth for me. It took me 18 months to feel my passport with my naked hands. Score till now- corruption is leading 2-0.
It’s April 2008 and I was 2 months away from graduating but I haven’t received any passport. I went to passport office, enquired and they said that they haven’t received any police report from my hometown and I need to fill two PP forms again. I did as they told and submitted the forms. It’s frustrating to visit any passport office. You have to get up early, reach 2 hours before and then struggle with other dicks licking your ass. I hate all this. Why can’t we have everything online??? Do people in western countries stand in queues like us??? I guess NO. Then again nothing happened. No progress. In the meanwhile I asked bagga whether there was any police verification done at his hometown. He moved his head vertically and I thought,” Why me”??? I tried calling RPO (regional passport officer) several times on the number provided in the Website and wrote numerous mails to:
grv.jscpv@mea.gov.in.......Shri A. Manickam, Joint Secretary (CPV) & Chief Passport Officer and rpo jaipur. As expected no reply came from them. Meanwhile I got passed out and moved to my home. Then in July I landed in Hyderabad to start a new life. Now it was not possible for me to run from pillar to post sitting in Hyderabad. Then in 2009 I was sent to VPP for 6 months. I went straight to Jaipur after reaching home, stayed there for 5 days, and once again filled two PP forms. Still verification from my hometown was not received. Then I reached home went to police थाना over there and enquired whether they have received any file for verification in the name of Nishit. I heard them saying “NO”. I could not make out who was at fault- Passport office Jaipur, Police थाना Jammu or some middleman. Finally in Nov 2009 unexpectedly I got call from a सरदार जी. He came the very next day and verified the documents but one original document was missing. I could not find it. I showed him the Xerox but he insisted on seeing the original. Now I knew how to get original and settle the matter. Score 3-0. Verification is not over still someone bigger is about to knock on my door- The CID waalaJammu. Now the final score is 4-0.
There are few questions that are unanswered in my mind. Why bagga didn’t have to go through 3 verifications when I have to face it 3 times?
Being from J&K my passport was delayed while Bagga faced no problems? Are we supplying terrorists? Terrorists can be from any place be it Delhi, Punjab, Himachal. I say if they want to verify then verification procedure should be same for all. I am disheartened with this incident that I have no faith in the system anymore. Nobody listens to you. Dump RTI in a deep pit and pour Indian shit on it. If you want to bring a change you need to have the power and that’s which I don’t possess.
Last year our CM Mr Omar Abdullah announced the launch of a portal where complainant can register his complaint regarding any matter which will be addressed in a stipulated time frame. I too registered my complaint and it’s been 6 months and I am still awaiting answer from them. I have also registered few more complaints on different matters but all I get and will get is dejection. The link is http://jkgrievance.nic.in/ and complaint numbers are 15158, 17393, 17394, 17413. You can see the progress yourself if you want.
Lastly I want to say that if you are doing something to bring a change go ahead and do it. All the best.