Loot and share

While constructing our house in Sholinganallur, we came in contact with one of the Linesmen of TNEB of that area. He is a slightly resourceful chap and has been taking care of many things for us in our absence. He was a big help during our Grihapravesham also. He also takes care of our electricity bills and reimburses it from us.

He had come home this evening to hand over the keys to that house (he was coordinating the cleaning activity that was going on today). We were generally chit-chatting and he shared some very interesting piece of news.

Basically, he is looking to get transferred to an office nearer his home. And apparently, he has to pay Rs.5000 as bribe money to the guy in TNEB who is handling these transfers. He then further added that the A.E who had joined the office recently, had come over there by paying an amount of - brace yourself - Rs.3 Lakhs!

I was quite shocked and asked him why would someone pay so much? Do they expect to get "returns" to that level? Is it because he is the TNEB office of an area which is identified with the IT growth of the city? Would that mean that he can get good commission from the companies?

The A.E apparently charges Rs.5000 for a domestic connection where the actual amount that goes to TNEB is only Rs.1500! The balance Rs.3500 is split up on these lines (all approximate figures):
1. The AE - 1000
2. The foreman - 1000
3. The linesmen - 500
4. The store clerk - 1000. Why a store clerk? He is the one who releases the "Meter box" from the store of the office.

This begets the question - does the internal bribing make these people seek bribes from outside to compensate their expenses or does the lure of the outside bribe make these people bribe even their internal counterparts to ensure that they are in the right place?