Condolences at public expense -letter

 I would like to point out a social ill which has over the years become a big nuisance in Chitral. The culture of using official  vehicles for going on condolence trips to at times extreme ends of Chitral is not only being unfair with the public exchequer but also a sick practice developed over the last two decades. On many occasions the personnel of Govt departments or NGOs who embark on such journeys not only misuse the official vehicles but also claim TA/DA for such a trip on some frivolous pretext.

Offering condolence to a bereaved family has been a good tradition of Chitral but it was done in a more rational and practical manner in the past. Personal visits were restricted to any such  occurrence in the village. Letters or messages of condolences to far away places were considered sufficient.

With the mushrooming of NGOs in the 1980s and the ensuing unbridled misuse of their vehicles, the practice of condolence visits as a 'joy ride' became popular. At times the whole organisation have been witnessed leaving their jobs and going away on a condolence visit to a distant home of a relative of a colleague.

Some politicians are also guilty of promoting this phenomenon and  using it to their political advantage. Using occasions of deaths and bereavements for political purposes became a main political tool of these politicians who otherwise did not have much to offer to the living ones.

Another negative  implication of the usage of free official transport for condolence purposes, was that every one started expecting every notable to visit them for condolence without differentiating between a person visiting them on a free official vehicle and one visiting them on a personally paid-for transport. Thus dishevelment and  corrupted perceptions have developed in this regard over the years.

I request the NGOs and Govt departments to put a strict ban on using official vehicles for personal purposes including condolence visits. No compassionate considerations should come in this way. I hope our educated class, the intelligentsia and those who feel bad about social ills would bear me out on this.

Farid Ul Haq

Chitral