Visakhapatnam: It is raining crorepatis for the Andhra Pradesh Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for past few months in this year and around 30 per cent of corrupt officials booked by the ACB in the state are from north Andhra region. Most of them are caught red-handed accepting bribes. From January to July 10 in 2017, ACB sleuths have registered 12 trap cases and six disproportionate assets (DA) cases in Vizag. So far in 2017, the ACB have registered a total of 80 trap cases 22 disproportionate assets in the state and most number of the cases was registered in Vizag region only.
DSP of ACB (Visakha Urban) K. Ramakrishna Prasad said that the day after New Year celebrations in 2017, we have arrested Revenue Inspector of Bheemili G. Srinivas and his assistant S. Apparao for demanding and accepting a bribe of '25,000 from a farmer for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose. Call it awareness among people or unable to pay the bribes, we have been receiving more complaints from public in 2017, he added.
Sources in ACB said that People living in Vizag city have paying more bribes to government officials than rural Vizag for various works as the ACB has been receiving more complaints from rural parts of Vizag. Though we have been netting tainted officials for amassing crores of illegal assets and arresting the officials for accepting bribes, we failed to insist fear among all the corrupt officials as the bribery amount has been increasing for various works, said a senior officer with ACB.
The increasing real-estate sector, transactions in property purchase and conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose in Bheemili and Madhurawada region have resulted in revenue and registration departments being caught in the maximum corrupt cases in Vizag city for past few years. If the government introduce registration of properties through online, the corruption in the two departments may comedown says a DSP of ACB Ramadevi.
