5,520 complaints on anti-graft number

Hyderabad: Official sources in CMO said the corruption related complaints received on the toll-free number provided by Telangana had been referred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for inquiry and action would be initiated based on the ACB report.

“The ACB is already probing these complaints. The government will initiate action against corrupt officials or staff based on the report submitted by ACB,” said an official.

The Chief Minister had announced the toll-free number in Warangal all of a sudden at a public meeting on January 11 after some people complained that officials were demanding bribes to issue ration cards, pensions, houses etc.

The number got instant popularity with the Chief Minister repeating it thrice at the meeting. With the media giving good coverage to the toll-free number, it started receiving over 3,000 calls per day initially which has now come down to tens with the government failing to take up any initiatives later to popularise the number.

Though the toll-free number has received nearly two lakh calls, a majority of them pertain to people seeking ration cards, pension, scholarships, fee reimbursement etc., and only 5,520 pertain to corruption.

Officials scrutinised these complaints and found that they were lodged against officials and staff in 45 departments.

Most of the complaints were against revenue department staff for demanding bribes to issue income, caste certificates etc besides for registration of property etc. Out of 5,520 complaints, 1,806 pertain to revenue department.
It is followed by police department with 445 complaints relating to demanding bribes for not booking cases, police verification etc.

About 344 complaints pertain to panchayat raj department demanding bribes to issue pensions etc.

While Warangal topped the list with overall complaints of 800, the next places went to Nalgonda (785), Ranga Reddy (685), Karimnagar (620), Mahabubnagar (575), Medak (538), Khammam (452), Nizamabad (409), Hyderabad (382) and Adilabad (289).

Most of the complaints pertain to demanding bribes to issue pensions (19,330), sanction of houses (6,630), ration cards (4,530), water connections (2,450) and agriculture related 2,150 complaints.