The infrastructure woes of government offices

While the whole country was gripped by huge power outages, we were sitting in the district nerve centre in Uttar Pradesh, using makeshift fans made of old reports and trying to cool ourselves down in the scorching 40 degree heat and pondering how sarkari babus cater to a district of 25 lakh-odd population with not even the bare basic facilities. 

On another instance in some other part of the country, while speaking to us, a senior officer wondered what the use of a cooler was when there was no running water in the office. For the “Why” came a quick, “Motor kharab padi hain 15 din se”. We were confused. Why would it take 15 days to repair a motor and more so when the 100-odd employees and hundreds of visitors depend on it for water.

The government staff’s image is often not seen in a positive light by the Indian society and they are often ridiculed for their lack of interest in doing work. But has anyone ever pondered if even basic facilities are provided to them? There ought to be some basic necessities that are needed for a person to work efficiently – electricity, water and a usable washroom being a few. 

Erratic power  

There are days where we go through the entire day fanning ourselves amidst piles of paperwork, meetings and discussions. 

Power outages during summertime could halt important work as seen in government offices as even the inverter runs out and it makes for an excellent reason to postpone the work. The work gets delayed, inevitably. 

Sometimes there is no inverter in the office, but only in the rooms of a few gazetted officers which amounts to the majority of the people in office premise panting, sweating and cursing the phenomenon of power outages. 

Enough drinking water? Hardly!

Availability of water is erratic. If the motor is broken it takes an eternity to fix it owing to the number of signatures required to pass the files and lengthy procedures and the ever-prevailing question of “Where will the money come from?” 

The water filter which is supposedly installed for the benefit of officers and visitors is also broken for months. This forces many including us to bring water from home which is never enough to last a whole day or forces us to buy water. 

Some people waiting long in a queue are frequently seen asking for drinking water when one goes in and out of the building. 

No lounge or seats for visitors

We approached one such visitor who was sitting cross-legged on the floor.  We asked the purpose of his visit and how far he had travelled to reach the district headquarter. He had spent more than an hour, travelling 34 km on his bike. 

“I’ve come to submit my application in the labour department. The babus are completing my application so I’m sitting on the floor. I’m tired and there is no arrangement for us to sit. A lot us sit on the floor while waiting for our turn, it is nothing unusual,” he said.

A woman was sitting outside the building with her baby on her lap. On being asked about the inconveniences she faced when coming to Vikas Bhawan she said, “If we get a place to sit and drinking water it will be a good relief for us in this scorching heat.”

Alas! There is no sight of water or a waiting lounge for so many people travelling to the district headquarters daily. Despite many requests and follow-ups we still don’t know what’s causing the delay. 

Washroom woes

As for washrooms we find ourselves unable to find the right words to express the terrible stench that fills the area when one merely passes the washroom let alone dare to use it. 

There is often no water in the washroom and it is cleaned once every two months, maybe! The absence of women in the tall three-storeyed building has resulted in the ladies’ washroom being converted to a men’s washroom. 

“My recurring thought was how to dispose of my sanitary napkin after using it the whole day. Because there was no dustbin. Also the non-availability of water on many occasions made using the washroom very difficult for all the women in the building. In the beginning I caught urinary tract infection twice. Now we have cut off access to the washroom for use by the public hence its cleaner otherwise with the visitors using the washroom it was difficult for the women officials to use the washroom,” said one of the women officers on her first reaction to the state of washrooms. 

“When I first came I knew I had to start my work by fixing the infrastructural issues in the building. I placed flower pots outside my room and a few other rooms. The washroom use is restricted so that hygiene is maintained. I am also planning to install a new water purifier in my room from the allotted fund,” said an officer.

A female staff member also talked about her initial troubles using the washroom. “Two female colleagues and I use the washroom outside the building as the washroom facility inside Vikas Bhawan does not have a latch. As I was new, I was too shy to ask the way towards the washroom and I ended up not using the washroom during office hours which created health problems. Two days back I saw that the washroom facility inside the building is being repaired so maybe we will get to use it,” she said.

Oh, for the upkeep of basic facilities

Naturally the shape of things made us ponder about how we could maintain sanitation and hygiene if we used the washroom, which led us to locking one washroom for our interest (UTI being a major threat). We paid a person to regularly clean the washroom and maintain cleanliness. But our effort to be heard in sending across the idea wilted even before it could reach the official in charge. 

The washroom walls are stained with betel leaf and chewed tobacco extracts which have attained a permanent status with the building’s infrastructure. Washroom is typically used by more than 20 people in a day but the thought of maintaining the cleanliness of the place eludes everyone’s imagination. 

It is quite a paradox – While we go to villages and lecture anganwadi staff about the importance of sanitation for better health, we ourselves are sitting in Vikas Bhawan amidst a laughable sanitation situation. 

The government pumps in huge amounts of money for constructing swanky buildings. One can see the VIPs inaugurating one building after another with their name embedded in big bold letters and their flashy titles. But does one ponder about the upkeep of these infrastructures? What about the people who would work from these spaces? It takes ages and tons of file work just to get a small task done, but when a VIP comes things fall into place. 

A major challenge is that the governments shy away with the recurring expenses and which often leads to these infrastructural shambles that we see. Why this happens is still a mystery to us and maybe in a few years to come we may have answers. 

Till then always remember “Never judge a book by its cover”. Behind those swanky new government offices would be an employee forced to bring water from home for the whole day or someone completing files while soaked in sweat.

The lead image at the top of this page shows the authors working in Vikas Bhawan.

Piyush Bhilegaonkar and Shreya Sarkar are Aspirational District Fellows in Balrampur.