MUHAMMAD Zahurul Haq retired in 1995 as a mason at Public Health Engineering Department after more than three decades of work. At 65 the man wonders whether he will at all get his pension benefits before he dies.

"I've left no stone unturned in last seven years to get my retirement benefits. I had sought help even from a human rights organisation, but all my efforts went in vein", said Haq.

The old man is on the brink of losing faith in his own country. "I often wonder is this the country for whose independence we had fought a bloody war," said an ailing Haq, whose toothless face makes him look older than his age.

A father of three, Haq said, "I have been writing to the Chief Engineer of Public Health Engineering Department since my retirement demanding my dues but all my appeals fell on deaf ears. If I do not get the money, it will be difficult for me to continue my treatment."

Haq said he had been suffering from various diseases for the last 20 years and he had an operation on lower part of his body that cost him Tk 2 lakh. He had to sell off his ancestral property to meet the expenses of the surgery.

"In my service life, I mainly saw the employees and junior officials to sweat for realising their retirement benefits, but the senior officials hardly face this harassment when they retire. What I understand as a poor man is that the fault is not in our system, but in our culture and attitude," Haq said in a sad voice.

Harassment in disbursing retirement benefits is a common complaint in Bangladesh. A few government employees and teachers of government schools and colleges can realise their retirement benefits, including gratuities and provident funds, without greasing the palms of officials at the AG offices or the offices they have to go for various types of clearance for retirement.

Jebunnesa Chowdhury, a resident of Enayet Bazar in the port city of Chittagong, was a teacher of a sewing school of Social Welfare Department under Social Welfare Ministry. It has been about 6 years since Jebunnesa (not her real name) has retired, but she is yet to receive her pension benefits.

"I have none, except my only son, to help me. My banker son is always busy with his own job. He cannot take off time to run after the officials at the AG office to realise my dues. It's a peculiar country, nothing works here without bribe and it's possible to get done everything through bribing," said Jebunnesa, a kidney patient.

"The official who has shelved my file for bribe would be younger than my son. He does not hesitate in seeking bribe from a woman of his grandma's age," she regretted.

Abu Naser, a primary school teacher in Mirsarai upazila of Chittagong district, said he had to spend over Tk 20,000 on bribe to realise his dues when he retired voluntarily in 1994.

"No way. We have become hostages in the hands of officials. The way they behave with us that shows we are their subordinates," the 60-year-old schoolteacher said recalling the days when he had to come to Education Directorate for various purposes.

"Bribery is an old practice. There was a time when people used to hate the officials who took bribe. People these days care more about money, no matter how it comes. Now the practice of taking and giving bribe has taken a new dimension. Can you believe that some officials at the Bangladesh Secretariat even do not hesitate to

sell visitor's pass?" said a Joint Secretary of the government, who did not disclose his name.

The official said a directorate under Education Ministry, which oversees government schools, colleges and madrassas, has become a den of corruption. Its officials and employees are rotten to their core. They do not work without bribe. Thousands of teachers across the country have become hostages in their hands. One has to run from one table to another for simply including his name in the Monthly Pay Order (MPO).

"They even demand bribes from teachers for correcting the mistakes in the MPOs for which they (teachers) are not responsible. The officials deliberately make mistakes in registering their names and appointment dates. And the chance of correction without giving them bribe is very thin," said the Joint Secretary.

"No desk will be found in the directorate where there is no money of bribe. It's a shame for the government officials. There are even some officials who do not bother to harass their own colleagues when they go on retirement," he said.

He said the government has amended the pension rule on a number of occasions to simplify it so that the retirement benefits go to the retirees at the earliest and without hazards. The latest amendment to it was done in 1994.

"Under the simplified pension rule, there is no reason of delay in providing retirement benefits to a retiree unless irregularities are found in one's service book or foul play by the officials in his/ her own office or the AG office," he said in response to a query.

"Government rules are clear but the greedy officials make the fellowmen suffer on various lame excuses. They will give you a complicated analysis of the government service rule instead of showing you a way out," he lamented.

According to the simplified pension rule, each ministry, division, directorate and office has to nominate a "welfare officer" directly involved in pension processing work to perform some specific works under the pension rule so that an employee or an official does not fall in trouble when he or she retires.

His jobs include maintaining service books of the officials, preparing a list of retirees, expected last pay certificates (ELPC), submitting applications and inspecting and monitoring pension cases.

The government rule says that the welfare officers in all concerned offices will write comments in the inspection books after monitoring and inspecting concerned administrative offices and the office that grants pension whether the activities to timely disburse retirement benefits to

the retirees are going on or not. "Unfortunately, there are many offices which have no welfare officer," the official said.

It also says in case of any objection the original copy of the AG office must be sent within the given time to the retiree through the concerned ministry, division or directorate under which his/her service is placed so that s/he can take necessary steps regarding the objection.

"Despite having all clear provisions, the retirees rarely get their dues in time," said another official working in Bangladesh Betar. He said government employees and officials in Bangladesh spend millions of taka every year on bribing their colleagues just to timely get their life-savings.

He said it was even worse a few years back, now the situation has improved a little with the appointment of BCS officials in the AG offices. "The young BCS officers hardly harass the retirees," he said.

"Things will not change until the government officials learn to respect government rules. They should develop the attitude of helping others, not harassing people in the name of rules and regulations. If they find the system faulty, it's their duty to come up with suggestions to correct or simplify it," said the Radio official. News Network