Hyderabad: Incidence of assets and money seized from bureaucrats and traps laid by ACB in disproportionate assets (DA) cases in Andhra Pradesh are reportedly 10 times higher than in Telangana.
In January 2018 alone, Andhra Pradesh ACB caught one officer and unearthed Rs 50 crore worth ill-gotten money. Disproportionate assets case seizures in Telangana don’t even amount to 5 per cent of that done by ACB in Andhra Pradesh.
This brings up two arguments — either the TS administration is less corrupt than in AP, or it colludes with the corrupt so that complaints do not reach the ACB. Also, both corruption and vigilance cases are higher in AP.
The sharp difference continues with regard to amount of money seized in DA cases too. The maximum assets seized in TS were worth Rs 5-7 crore, while AP seized '50 crore in one case alone.
So what explains the curious situation? A senior DSP in the Telangana ACB told the newspaper, “All complaints about disproportionate assets and traps are acted on timely. There is no delay in granting of permission to carry out raids. All complaints received through the helpline 1064 are pursued. How is the ACB responsible if the amount seized is lower compared to other states?”
To back the claim about low corruption in TS, president of TS Gazette Officers group Padma Chary, said, “Corruption in TS is comparatively low. Officers in lower ranks may demand small amounts, but there isn’t any large-scale corruption here.”
But then, study shows corruption reduced to a great extent in AP in recent years. In a survey conducted by NCRIA, AP stood at the 19th place in 2017 — a massive improvement from its position in 2016 as the 2nd most corrupt state.
An officer from Andhra Pradesh ACB said, “We don’t work for comparisions with other states. The number of corruption cases is not important, although amount of ill-gotten money seized is.”
