RECENTLY, at my age of 83, I had to visit the Excise and Motor Registration Department at the Civic Centre in Karachi for paying motor vehicle tax against my 29-year old car. The officer dealing with tax matters issued me a challan of Rs5,000 and told me to deposit the required amount at any bank. There was no further guidance.

The closest bank had a long queue so I went to another bank located at some distance and joined the queue there. While waiting for my turn, I was informed by the person behind me in the queue that a photocopy of the invoice was also required to make the payment. Bewildered, I left the line in search of a photocopier’s shop, and found one at a considerable distance.

It took me about 30 minutes to return to the queue with a photocopy of the challan. To my horror, the line had swelled by then and was moving at a snail’s pace. There was only one window open for accepting payments. I had no option but to take my place at the end of the queue, and had to wait for more than an hour before I could reach the window. For a fragile man of my age, it was a horrible, agonising experience.

All this while bank officials remained seated in the air-conditioned offices, and none of them bothered to come and have a look at the chaos outside. Once I had paid my tax, I went to the branch manager and asked him why he could not arrange an additional window for collecting the payments. Obviosuly, he had no sensible reply.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan’s clear directives, every bank branch is required to arrange a separate window for senior citizens, but this order is constantly flouted by banks brazenly.

Shameem Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2025