Panchkula (Haryana): Corruption in the government offices of Haryana is "highly institutionalised and everyone here is shielding one another", a top anti-corruption official said Wednesday.

"The cases of corruption that we are dealing with in the state are just the tip of an iceberg. Conviction rate is also very abysmal here, only about 30 percent," S.C. Sinha, director general of the State Vigilance Bureau (SVB), told reporters here.

"Moreover, whenever we go for raiding some office, it is mandatory for us to take prior permission from the department head. This leads to the leakage of our secret information many times and all our efforts go futile," stated Sinha.

To streamline its working, the SVB has decided to impart training to its officials in collaboration with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Academy to help them crack the cases of corruption and other white-collar crimes.

"In our drive to check corruption in the state, the SVB conducted 184 raids in 2008 and registered 222 criminal cases against guilty. We caught 39 gazetted officers, 162 non-gazetted officers and eight others red-handed while accepting bribe in 2008," said Sinha.

Cases have also been registered against an IAS officer, an IPS officer, 10 officers of Haryana Police Service and Haryana civil service, Sinha said.

In its drive against corruption, the SVB registered 435 source reports in 2008 as compared to only 147 in 2007 and 138 in 2006.

Sinha added: "People can lodge their grievances at our website www.haryanavigilance.gov.in. A toll free number, 1800-80-2022 has been set up at the headquarters of the SVB at Panchkula to facilitate people in lodging their complaints or providing any information about the corrupt official."

 

Source : IANS