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“NO matter what we do, nobody loves us,” said a friend, currently serving as a deputy commissioner. I asked him the reason behind his pessimistic statement, and he went on to explain that everyone gets recognition at some stage — doctors, army men, lawyers, philanthropists — but a civil servant like him and many others never get any recognition. He further added: “In fact, escapists like you who have left the civil service are recognised more for the service they are doing to expose the so-called ills of bureaucracy, but the ones who battle it out by staying to serve the public are never recognised. I have not gone home for the last three days, have not met my kids for almost a week because when I leave home in the morning they have not yet woken up and, when I return, they are already asleep.”
District administration officials are the first line of response of the government in any unusual situation, and they are usually the ones facing the wrath of the general public over government action as well as inaction. Even in the current crisis, many of them have hardly any personal protective equipment yet continue to travel to areas where there have been outbreaks to manage the infection. Such is their selfless commitment that you would not find them complaining.
The SP (operations) of Mardan district as well as an SHO tested positive for Covid-19, which they may have contracted while trying to convince the residents of Manga village to self-quarantine. The villagers were not paying much heed to their warnings, despite the fact that the virus had spread from a single patient to as many as 39 others. It is not easy to convince an apparently healthy individual to exercise caution for the sake of others.
District administration officials are the first line of response.
Similarly, when suspected patients are quarantined in a government facility, they immediately post pictures and videos complaining about inadequate facilities. The good work done by the administration is nullified in a matter of minutes through a viral video that often is not even providing accurate information but is merely an individual opinion.
Many in the media criticising the handling of the Taftan quarantine centre while sitting in the comfort of their studios fail to understand the dynamics of the place; it is uninhibited land with no infrastructure whatsoever. It is very easy to criticise in retrospect, but when the situation was unfolding it was not so straightforward.
Those in the service do not believe in blame games, they get things done — sometimes at the cost of their own well-being — and must be appreciated, as in the case of the mechanism devised to disburse cash grants via the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme.
The first step is to send one’s CNIC number via SMS to 8171. This triggers a process that prior to technological advancements would take weeks if not months, but now takes a few hours at most. The State Bank database checks the CNIC for bank account balance, the FIA database for foreign travel, the Nadra database for executive CNIC holders and duplication in the same family, the excise and taxation database for vehicle ownership, and the BISP database for socioeconomic registration. Once verified, the deserving applicant receives a Rs12,000 grant via mobile banking.
This is an excellent example of technology providing the means to eliminate opportunities for corruption. Those who are not in these databases are directed to the local administration, where a civil servant ensures registration without any political or personal bias. It also underscores the need to remove spurious entries from the BISP socioeconomic database, which was recently done to a great extent. Data gathering is a never-ending process, but a very beneficial one. I recall BISP was initially criticised for doling out cash rather than creating job opportunities, but now even the critics see its effectiveness as a means of survival rather than a choice.
Lastly, a suggestion to all those who wish to help the needy in these trying times: give cash instead of ration bags and cooked food packages, which have become the norm these days. Distributing food items makes sense in the face of natural calamities like floods or earthquakes that destroy infrastructure.
However, in case of this pandemic, handing out money instead of food would not only address the exact needs of poor families but also decrease the chances of needy families receiving surplus food. However, for those who consider it a photo opportunity more than an opportunity to help people, flour bags and ghee tins are the way to go. After all, one cannot post a picture of a Rs5,000 note pasted on the forehead of a poor labourer on Facebook as that would look too pretentious and insensitive.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Twitter: @SyedSaadat55
Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2020
