The Federal Employees Benevolent Fund (FEBF) was established in 1969 to provide insurance coverage, benevolent grants, educational stipend, educational and farewell grants to the government officials. FEBF deducts a certain amount from about 580,000 government employees on a monthly basis and pays out grants as and when they are required.

But for one section officer of the federal government, the process of obtaining a grant from the FEBF was a humiliating experience.

“After 18 years of deductions, when I applied for a grant last month to pay for my daughter’s education, I learnt just how the FEBF treats government employees,” the officer told Dawn.

“When I entered the office, the man at the reception curtly asked me why I was there. When I told him the purpose of my visit, he told me to go to the assistant director’s office. When I asked for directions to the office, he rudely waved me off, saying ‘you can ask any peon’,” the officer said.

“I greeted the assistant director as I walked into his office, but he ignored me and simply asked me to leave my application on his desk and leave. When I asked how long it would take to process the application, he said there are a lot of applications already in queue and my turn would ‘eventually’ come.”

“I tried to meet a senior officer, but no one was available. One of the PEBF officials advised me to ‘be generous to the clerks’ if I wanted my case expedited. But I stood firm and said that I was only asking for what was rightfully mine.”

“Even though I applied through the proper channels, I still haven’t received my grant so far,” he said.

Dawn’s ‘Eye-Witness Account’ segment features accounts of individuals who have experienced adversity or have been affected by a miscarriage of justice. All accounts are verified as far as possible by Dawn’s editorial team. Readers are encouraged to send in accounts of similar incidents that may have befallen them, so that attention can be called to such problems and they can be addressed with due debate in the public eye. Readers can send their accounts to re.isb@dawn.com.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play