Goa's Primitive Procedures

When was the last time you took the trouble to personally pay your electricity bill? If no, then one procedure would be visiting one of those lousy cooperative banks operating in Goa that the government has tied up as their payment gateway. If one enters these banks the only person attending the longest queue will be the teller accepting these bills. The rest of the staff is busy idling away their time or meditating with their eyes open. If you happen to reach a minute late, the teller will politely refuse your money pointing you to the procedural cut off timings mentioned on some board.

If you acted smart by clubbing all outstanding bills of residence, offices in different locations of Goa, be prepared for a shock on your turn at the counter. The teller will proudly show you some weird color coding on the bill consisting pink, yellow, green and enlighten you that your code does not match with the one s/he is authorized to accept. This experience is good enough to make you feel that your clever idea was actually a stupid one. There are some banks which might accept all color bills but they are few and far between.

Most Goans accept this color coding as some great mechanism the department follows to collects its bills, so nobody question the procedure. Actually it is a rigid way of providing customer service, which is a result of a monopoly business run by the Government for decades, with no pressure whatsoever to enhance its procedures.

A bill collection system which was set up probably when cooperative banks were the toast of the day, due to its geographical reach, still rule the roost. The system remains the same even though the scenario outside has changed with the advent of private banking, ECS, ATM’s, Credit Cards, online or mobile bill payments.

Let’s not blame politicians for the mess, even if they desire to make a change, employees will obstruct any proposal fearing automation might affect their employment. Let’s not even blame the teller that gives you a hard time to receive your money at that cooperative bank.
S/he is the most hassled employee and merely a slave of an outdated procedure.

The blame lies with the top managers handling bills receivables in these departments. These employees sitting for decades in the same position have not kept pace with the new technology that is fast evolving. Their only interest seem pocketing their salaries with zero accountability to the cash flow of the department. If only their salaries were linked to the amount of cash they collect for the department, that would force them to do some productive work. 

Why do we hold on to such primitive procedures that get the job done the tedious way? Do we know the meaning of continuous improvements? Do we ever think from the customer point of view? The Government of Goa should check out the central government owned BSNL on how it collects is bills, and the options it provides to customers, not forgetting the incentive it provides for signing up for ECS. This might have not completely eliminated queues outside their office, but at least valued the time of its busy customer.

Most Goa Government department has procedures that were designed before the computer or the internet. Yes fancy computers do exist on each table, but as white elephants or part of the décor. If basic tasks of paying utility bill have to be paid the old fashioned way, one cannot understand the rational of providing free computers to the Generation Next Goans. Do they expect a computer savvy Generation Next to ignore available technology and stand in queues for mundane tasks, just because we don’t have the will to improve our procedures. It is time we make Goa attractive to the Generation Next and make our procedures in line with the best in the world, especially if we want to attract the Generation Next Goans residing abroad.

Above Article appeared in Herald Goa on November 4, 2011