RUPANDEHI, Dec 13: It has been found that government officials in Province 5 have been openly asking for bribes with the service-seekers.
A survey carried out by Province 5 Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers at three different government offices shows that civil servants have asked for bribes with 60 percent of the service-seekers. The office had surveyed a total of 80 service-seekers.
The survey shows that 26 percent service-seekers gave bribes to government officials directly. Likewise, 61 percent bribed the officials through middlemen. Similarly, 12 percent service-seekers gave bribes through the help of government officials, the survey shows.
Secretary at the Office of the Chief Minister, Tek Narayan Pandey, presented the findings of the survey amid a function. Pandey said that the government offices should make the service-seekers satisfied by providing quality service.
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The survey also shows that patients at Lumbini Provincial Hospital are not getting even basic services such as laboratory tests. The patients at the hospital have to go elsewhere for lab tests. The survey shows that doctors at the hospital tell the patients to get their lab tests done by private clinics and laboratories outside the hospital.
A total of 32 patients took part in the survey. Of them, 52 percent said that laboratories outside the hospital provide test results on time. Likewise, the patients are also not getting medicines at the hospital. Only 43 percent of the patients visiting the hospital purchase the medicines there. Of them, 75 percent patients said that they didn’t get medicines at the hospital’s pharmacy.
Meanwhile, a survey by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) also shows that the service-seekers have been giving bribes at government offices. Speaking at at an event, Kali Prasad Parajuli, a joint-secretary at CIAA, said that civil servants at Land Revenue Office, Survey Office, among others have asked the service seekers for bribes.
The survey shows that a total of 522 service-seekers among 1,668 service-seekers had to bribe government officials for getting services.
Of them, 74 percent had bribed the officials for getting government service.
In the first four months of the current fiscal year, a total of 211 complaints have been registered against different ministries in Province 5 at the CIAA. Of the registered complaints, 65 have been settled, while the remaining 146 cases are still pending.
There are 12 districts in the province.
The highest number of complaints has been recorded in Rupandehi district.
