Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 18 departments of the Kerala government including the police and the civil supplies have come under the scanner of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) following a stream of complaints about corruption in these offices frequented by the people.
The initiative has been touted as an exercise to improve the functioning of these departments but the real motive is to root out corruption, top VACB officers said.
On the radar are departments governing the police, motor vehicles, public works, health, excise, revenue, forest, civil supplies, food security, local self-government bodies, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, mining and geology, legal meteorology, weights and measures, water resources, ports, tourism and devaswom board.
The VACB plans to watch with hawk’s eyes the village and taluk offices and the local bodies the people rely on a daily basis. The police stations, motor vehicle offices, government hospitals, public distribution shops and water resources offices will also be keenly watched.
VACB superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police and inspectors have been instructed to visit one of the offices in the selected departments at least once a week to interact with the people who seek government services.
If the officers are convinced that a citizen has been asked a bribe or denied service at a government office, they are free to inspect the office and take legal action against the erring official, VACB director Loknath Behera ordered unit chiefs.
The officials said that the departments were chosen for their visibility among the people rather than the prevalence of corruption. The frequent presence of VACB sleuths in government offices is expected to create a perception that government offices have become corruption-free.
