SORRY STATE OF GOVERNMENT SERVICE

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

Attached is a picture which I picked up from the 'Sinhalaya Watch' column in www.sinhalaya.com website. The self-evident picture exposes this female government servant 'reading a Sinhala novel' seated at Counter A of the Same Day passport Service at the Dept. of Immigration and Emigration, Ananda Rajakaruna Mawatha, Colombo 10.

She has been framed by an irate applicant who went to the Immigration Office on 14th June 2006 at 10.34 a.m reading a book while applicants who had paid an additional fee for 'the same day service' were queuing up.

Can anyone say this officer is duty conscious at all ? Does she demonstrate an iota of dedication towards her job and the responsibility entrusted upon her, for which she earns a living out of tax payers' money ? It is shameful and a callous attitude with a total disregard towards her supervisors who were supposed to have been seated right behind her.

The report beneath the photograph read how her supervisors seated behind her had not even been bothered to pull her up for such an high-handed act and/or to discipline the young lady. This is a clear cut evidence of how ineffective the Sri Lanka government service has become today .

No wonder why the public at large point a finger at all government institutions in this country and blame responsible senior managers and government ministers for turning a Nelsonian eye on such cases of gross negligence and lackadaisical attitudes of their subordinates.

Dr. Tilak S. Fernando