Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Absurd Bureaucracy at every step!

That is a mild term to use considering my experience in the past 2 days. I have been battling bureaucracy all along. First it was the police, then came the RTO and finally the Insurance people. They made me feel so miserable that I actually started to think 'Why the hell did I come to the police?'

After my yesterday's post, I was again called to the police station. Just because the 'Inspector' had come. That SOB had no clue of what had happened. He started giving us nonsense gyan. I already had a headache. Then FINALLY he decided to file the FIR. Since the break inspection was yet to be done, I was to go there today at 9 AM and get it done. Well I was in for a ride through hell!

I went to the police station at 9:30 AM (thinking of IST ;-)) Not a soul to be found. After 15 mins of inquiring bystanders, we finally managed to get hold of a Constable. That fellow told us to go to the RTO for a signature from ARTO, and that we weren't supposed to touch our vehicle. So we walked to the RTO. There that bloody ARTO who was supposed to come in at 9AM shows up at 10:30 AM. After all this he acts like a dictator of his own country (read RTO) and throws back our sheet after singing it. I felt like giving him a tight slap after that. Next we were told to go to another floor (7th) to meet the brake inspector. No surprise, there were no inspectors to be found anywhere! After coming back, and inquiring a bit more, we managed to get hold of a Inspectors number. That fucking asshole was doing pooja at 11 AM. He told that he would come to office from Uttarahalli after pooja and breakfast and slammed his phone. So we waited for that SOB. He does not even turn up at 12 Noon. So we inquire more about his whereabouts. This stupid person, has forgotten us totally and is doing 'paisa vasool' with people who were getting their DL. We walked about a 1 KM to meet this guy. He has no regret, and asks us to wait in the police station! He royally comes there 15mins later and writes a couple of sentences and leaves. So for fucking 2 lines, we waited for 3 hours in that shit hole.

After getting the FIR, we went to Maruti Service station. I was fed up by this time, and thought it was the end of bureaucracy for the day. Boy, was I wrong. These insurance people act like leeches when it comes for making policies. But when it actually comes for claiming them, they are worse than the government people. This person almost wanted me to recreate the scenario, so that he can 'release' the money. The estimate had come up to 18K and I was in for another surprise. These people had lots of *Conditions Apply which no one bothers to read.
1. For every claim big or small, we had to compulsorily pay 1000/-
2. There would be a 20% depreciation in terms of my No-Claim bonus. So I would be losing 5000/-
3. The body parts like plastic and glass are only covered for 50%. So the rest 50% should be paid by us!

Taking this into account, I would be shelling out 9K from my pocket even after getting the Insurance amount. I mean, this is ridiculous. I pay 25K every year to end up paying more to get 18K. This does not make any fucking sense to me! After fighting with that insurance person for almost an hour, I am still not sure whether I'll get my insurance for this. So for no fault of my own, I have to spend approx 10K and have already wasted 2 days.

Life is cruel!

PS : please pardon my abusive language. this just reflects my state of mind.

4 comments:

Sathish said...

Well there is nothing wrong in your language.... It's what everyone feels when they are helpless even though there is no fault on their part...... And this is the state of our country...
I know it must be really hard... Even bonda was really tensed when his sister met with an accident, remember?

I am Madhu said...

ya i remember... i also remember this happening with me only before... but we have a tendency to somehow block off these things from our mind... in a way we are encouraging the people to behave the way they do... sad but true!

Sri!!! said...

Welcome to India.

I am surprised if you didnt know about this before. Be it police station, RTO or any other government institution. Its going to be the same.

If you thought this was bad, I once came across a slum kid who was knocked down by some one else and when I out of gratitude took the kid to Sanjay Gandhi hospital. The kid was unconscious by then and I unfortunately could not make out that it was unconscious but thought it was about to be dead.
The bloody receptionist and nurse there told there are no doctors and before anything happens take it to NIMHANS. You know how big that hospital is and how much land they have, ultimately of no use to anyone.
The story didnt end there, when I took the kid to NIMHANS there the people were even horrible. They said the doctors are free but the kid wont be attended until I accept that I did the accident myself. After I accepted that I did the accident they checked the kid and told it was only unconscious and would be fine by tomorow.
The story didnt end there. Two days later the JP Nagar police came to my house and took me to police station as I had accepted that I did the accident. I could convince them that it was not me but they did not acccept.
Whats even funny was that slum kid was again playing on the main road after two days when I was going around police station for no mistake of mine.
Eventually with some bribe everything was settled.
Thats how funny things work in India??

I really feel bad for what happened to you. The highest fine for any accident in India is 1500 rupees. While you are about to shed close to 10K the driver will have to pay a fine of max 1000 bucks and he will be driving as rash as ever. Sad isnt it but its reality...

Sri

I am Madhu said...

@sri : i know the incident which u r talking about. it was shilpa's accident right? i have learnt my lesson the hard way. hope i don't forget it soon.

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