Giving the much-awaited good news that the number of bag dispensing machines was being increased, the Northern Municipality director-general, recently addressed concerns about machines occasionally running out of bags.
“What is the problem with driving from one mall to another if the nearest machine is out of stock? They are all within proximity and easily accessible by car,” he said.
I am a senior citizen with acute diabetes and post-Covid complications, living near Salmaniya. For six days last August, I went to the Mega Mart machine near Manama Central Market, now at Ramez, and found it empty every time.
Walking 3km in the 11am heat left me exhausted. The online municipality list sent me to Al Muntaza in Isa Town, but the machine had moved to Ramez. That one was also not working for days. Ramez in Riffa was the same.
I considered going to Sitra Post Office by bus, but had no strength left to risk another failed trip.
The bureaucracy seems to think that driving by car from one machine to another is of no consequence. Yet we have a chronic traffic problem because people use a car even to go to a shop at the end of the street, causing ever-increasing congestion.
Are we now to assume that owning a car, and using it even for short trips, is a must? The official advice, after all, is to drive by car to the next machine because it is ‘in proximity’.
Despite global financial pressure, epidemics and regional security concerns, this country has always given top priority to the welfare of its people. In such a state, should the reply not have been: ‘Why have th`ese costly machines remained inoperative and not been refilled by staff?’ Instead of ‘drive by car to the next available one’?
About a year ago, I lost my monthly allocation because the machine was not working and remained empty. I raised the issue with Tawasul, arguing that I was deprived through no fault of mine and should receive compensation for the loss.
The municipality replied that ‘previous quotas were not issued’. The contrast between the official statement on backdated allocations and Tawasul’s reply is a matter for study and research.
Muhammad
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