This refers to the report "India 4th most vacation-deprived country" (November 6). While the survey by Expedia might hold true for the private sector, vacations and holidays are not something government employees in India might be missing too much. For three days now, I have failed to find the Head Post Office open in Rourkela, Odisha. November 4 and 6 were religious holidays, and the Head Post Office closed at 3 p m on November 5. The same situation exists in BSNL offices and public sector banks here. Even when they are open, employees make minimum effort at customer service. The huge office buildings are untidy and the work environment disorganised.
Another report "BSNL, MTNL manage to become irrelevant" (November 6) says BSNL has 25 times as many employees as Airtel but generates half the revenue. The reasons for this underperformance are quite clear. There is full job security, and zero accountability. While privatisation may seem too radical for now, performance evaluation of each of the government-run services is urgently needed to curb this menace.
Manas Sahu Rourkela
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