Revenue officials top in graft craft, cops not far behind

The revenue department tops the list of most corrupt with 32 of its employees caught accepting bribe this year, a jump of 20 from last year's 12. The police department is a close second.

"The revenue department is always top on our list. This year till date, we have seized Rs 3.21 lakh from its employess, while last year the amount was Rs 55,000. The police department saw a seizure of Rs 1.96 lakh this year as compared to Rs 71,600 last year,'' said Sarang Awad, Superintendent of Police, Anti-Corruption Bureau (Pune range).

The town planning department is also knee-deep in graft. ACB stats show class II officers in the department demanded Rs 3 lakh in bribe this year.

The panchayat samiti office comes next with three class III officers demanding a bribe of Rs 1.03 lakh.

"The trap amount too is high — above Rs10,000 in revenue, police, irrigation, food and civil supply, social welfare and sports departments," said Awad.

Surprisingly, the lowest "trap collection" — Rs 400 — was in the regional transport office and Rs 1,000 in the health department.

Last year, the highest "trap amount" — Rs 56,000 — was collected from the public works department. The cooperative department was not far behind, with one official caught for demanding Rs 45,000.

This year, 71 class III officers were booked for taking bribe as against 39 last year. In all, 103 officers were booked this year compared to 56 last year.

The departments that are always on ACB radar include revenue, police, zilla parishad, corporations, MSEB, town planning, social welfare, sports, law and judiciary, cooperatives, health, education and dairy development.

With 78 traps already laid this year and the number expected to cross 100, ACB said corruption was rampant in these departments.

... contd.

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