National savings

The National Saving Centres work like banks. They collect money from the public and make interest payments when due. However, unlike banks, their service is way below par. First, their banking hours are substantially short as compared to commercial banks –9am-2:30pm instead of 9am-5pm. This results in long queues at the counters; and their customers are mostly women, pensioners and senior citizens.

Second, if the interest rate is increased by the government, those customers who have invested in savings certificates have to go through a cumbersome process to avail a higher interest rate. This is done by surrendering old certificates and applying for new ones. Since all the work is done manually, it can take hours and even longer lines. Shorter and quicker solutions can be implemented, but not by our bureaucracy, as it will benefit the public, and our civil service has not been trained this way. What needs to be done is to appoint an outsider from the corporate sector as head of the National Savings Organisation, someone who can think outside the box and benefit common people.

P S Ahmed

Islamabad