Failure to weed corruption at any level is the primary failure of the consecutive governments in Republic India. A frustrated snake charmer of Uttar Pradesh played a practical joke on a set of government officers proves his dejection to the system. The incident though minor one, must be an eye opener to one and all officers, that public has lost their elastic limit in tolerating corruption. To register his protest against the failure of the revenue officials to allot him a piece of land on lease for “keeping snakes,” a snake charmer let out scores of venomous snakes inside a “tehsil” (town area) office in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district, about 200 km from Lucknow.

Hakkul, of Lara village in Basti district, dumped the snakes, including a number of cobras, at the land revenue office in Harraiya town. Many of the frightened villagers and officials ran out of the office, while others climbed on top of tables. No-one was bitten or injured but the snakes are yet to be caught. Chaos prevailed in the crowded office as the snakes slithered on the furniture and the floor and forest department personnel were called to catch them.

Hakkul is a conservationist and had been allotted a plot of land for his work by the state government. However, local administration officers refused to give him the land till he paid them. “He will be punished in accordance with law,” said the police. Sub-divisional magistrate Ranvijay Singh said that the land would be allotted to Hakkul soon. As of now, authorities are not contemplating action against him, officials said.

A novel protest, but indeed sensitive what he wanted to prove, is it that since they were not allotting the land he had no place for the snakes hence he has put them there (or) to prove that the corrupted are similar to the venomous. It is for the sufferer to decide.