Backdoor operations: Touts rule the roost at excise department

Govt claims facilitating citizens will help end illegal practice.

ISLAMABAD:

If you have to get any paperwork done for your car at the excise and taxation department, one need not wait for weeks, as touts can get your work done the same day. All it takes is ‘a little extra’ to cover the tout’s fees which include bribes for the relevant government officials and you can get your work done.

Muhammad Arsalan, a citizen, paid Rs1,500 and struck a deal with a tout who was roaming outside the department, offering to help those overburdened by the vehicle registration process. Instead of going about the right way, Arslan encouraged the illegal practice of getting one’s work done by touts.



Arslan said that when he reached the excise department he was informed by an official to fill a form and deposit the fee in a bank located outside the department. Before he could get his work done from the bank, the department was closed for the day and he “luckily” found a tout offering to help. “I had no option but to accept the offer as I did not want to go through all the hassle again the next day. The tout said he could get it done in an hour despite the department’s closure” he said.

This is just one of many examples as several residents are roped in by touts who enjoy a strong nexus with excise officials and can thus get things done. Samina Tariq, another citizen, narrated the same story. Tariq paid Rs3,500 after her car was transferred to another owner who was not in the country. She said when she approached the excise department to get her vehicle transferred, she was similarly told to fill a form after depositing a fee in a bank. But before she could reach the bank, she was approached by a tout and subsequently struck a deal. “I paid him Rs3,500 and in two hours he provided me my transferred registration book,” she added.



The capital’s excise department is located in a congested area near the city’s bustling district courts in F-8 Markaz. The area is infested with touts who are on the lookout for potential confused citizens who just want to get their work done without inordinate delays. The city administration has time and again taken action against touts and excise officials involved in the racket but even then the illegal practice continues unabated.

A tout, requesting anonymity while narrating his daily activities, told The Express Tribune that “It depends on the customer and your personal connection with him or her. Sometimes I earn more than my expectations while some customers are good at negotiating the price,” he said. Touts claim they get very little of the total money they obtain as fees as most of it is consumed by the department officials. Another tout said he has been ‘working’ outside the department for the last three years and earns between Rs400 to 500 on an average day. He says they would not be enjoying the thriving business if they did not have some department officials on their side.

Despite the presence of officials who facilitate the illegal practice, senior bureaucrats believe the practice can be eliminated by carrying out major reforms in the department. Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali Ahmed says the department has taken practical steps to eliminate this practice. “We don’t need to suspend anyone as we are making a system through which corrupt officers and the tout mafia would automatically be sidelined,” Ahmed said.

He said it is the department’s top priority to provide all facilities for citizens under one roof. Ahmed admitted the involvement of department officials and said they have been suspended and transferred numerous times but the practice continues. Thus, he says the only way out is to ensure maximum provision of facilities that are easy to use. “It is the root cause that needs to addressed,” he remarked.

He said Imran Sultan Ali, the newly-appointed excise and taxation department director, has been tasked to carry out effective reforms in the department after thoroughly brainstorming the issue. The first reform in this regard is the introduction of bank counters at the department to facilitate visitors who would otherwise have to go outside for bank-related work. He added that thumb impressions are now mandatory for transferring vehicles and to obtain new registration documents for vehicles.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2013.