Vigilance to tighten screws on corrupt babus, cops

PATNA: There might have been a slight let-up in the day and night readings of the mercury, but the state vigilance department is all set to increase the heat on erring bureaucrats, police officials, engineers and other government personnel in days to come. The aim is to control the spread of corruption down the line.

Vigilance top brass made this clear on Thursday as they explained the government's position on complaints of irregularities.

Those who made the united face on the matter were vigilance commissioner Vijay Kumar Verma, ADG (vigilance) Neelmani, IG (vigilance) A K Upadhyaya and Bihar State Electricity Board's vigilance cell IG Anand Shankar.

"The anti-corruption drive has become necessary because the government is pumping in a huge sum of money on development schemes, and a lot of activities are going in the works departments with thrust on building hospitals, roads, schools, rural infrastructure etc," said Verma. Details of all the schemes above Rs 1 crore have already been sought. "We will make surprise checks and inspections," he said.

According to him, the surprise check is the new tooth that the department has acquired. The checks would be made during the implementation of the scheme itself so that the quality is not affected. "We will inform the departments about our assessment," he added.

According to him, the surprise check is the new tooth that the department has acquired. The checks would be made during the implementation of the scheme itself so that the quality is not affected. "We will inform the departments about our assessment," he added.

As a matter of fact, laying traps to arrest erring officials has been actively pursued in the last two years by the state vigilance department. On the other hand, the special vigilance unit consisting of retired CBI officials has unearthed disproportionate assets made by five senior officials, both retired and serving.

No witch-hunting will be done," Neelmani said. Verma added the department has made no discrimination against any body.

The department, in the last two years, laid 147 traps to arrest bribe-taking officials. Surprisingly, during the Lalu-Rabri rule from 1995 till 2005, only 47 traps could be laid over a decade. "Under the present dispensation, there is no bar on the activities of the department," Neelmani said refusing to comment on the situation during the last regime for the simple reason that he was not in the vigilance then.

Shankar said a drive has been launched to catch "big fishes" indulging in power theft. Describing the recent two cases, he said the electronic device to do meter reading was tampered with in both these cases. One such industrial unit put the BSEB to a loss of Rs 3.76 lakh in March.