Public dissatisfied with government services

Kathmandu, February 18

The key responsibility of public bodies is to deliver service to citizens in a simple, easy and effective manner. Customer satisfaction is an indicator of perceived and expected performance of such bodies.

But the Annual Report on Customer Satisfaction Survey, 2017 commissioned by the Ministry of General Administration shows that public bodies are not performing up to the satisfaction of the customers. The infiltration of brokers and other middlemen in government offices such as Land Revenue Office, Survey Office and District Administration Office in addition to lack of fulfillment of posts in public health institutions have hit service-seekers, mainly elderly, persons with disabilities and patients, the worst.

The MoGA had selected 20 busiest government offices directly concerned with the general public in Kathmandu Valley to gauge customer satisfaction during the survey. They include LRO in Kalanki, Dillibazaar, Chabahil, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur; Ekantakuna-based three units of Transport Management Office; Taxpayers Office in Kalanki, New Road and New Baneshwor; DAO in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur; Office of District Development Committee in Kathmandu; Department of Foreign Employment in Tahachal, Office of the Company Registrar; Department of Passport; Bir Hospital; Office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City; and Office of Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City.

As many as 217 service-seekers, including 139 in Kathmandu, 68 in Lalitpur and 10 in Bhaktapur, were interviewed to assess to what extent they were satisfied with service delivery. Of them, 197 respondents said they had idea about the functions of the concerned offices while their 20 others said they did not know anything about it. Similarly, 38 persons complained that they were denied service without assigning any reason thereof.

Similarly, 79 respondents said they could not receive the service within the stipulated period. The survey findings suggested that civil servants are often unfriendly with service-seekers and 28 of the service-seekers said government officials did not respond to their queries. As per the report, government officials have also been overcharging clients for service. As many as 19 persons said they were made to pay exorbitant fee. Only five out of 217 respondents rated government services as very good followed by 75 (good), 120 (fair), 14 (good) and three (unresponsive).

The report has also recommended to concerned government offices to improve the ir employees’ performance level .