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Heard abt bribery at Govt offices and now faced it first hand. I had to get a mobile phone couriered from Mumbai to Kolkata and since it was a notified item I had to get a waybill processed.

The story starts with a guy called Ratan Bagchi on third floor of Sales Tax office in Salt Lake kolkata. He is a sort of file pusher for the officials there and tells me there would be some kharcha paani to get the work done. The officials were cooperative but this guy and the lower level staff who have to do the documentation refused to proceed unless "paid". It was only after paying abt 250 bucks that the guy filed my papers and sent it to the waybill processing floor. Now since I had paid the wonderful Ratan Bagchi , he is my "friend" and he advices me that this dept would ask me money and that he would tell them that I knew the officials and hence they should not ask me to pay. Well thats what he did and the waybill processing went smoothly.

But had I not "paid" this guys things would not have moved at all. I am someone for whom 250 would not pinch much but just imagine the hundreds of souls who would have to put up with this crap. Request somebody to take action in the interest of the public.