PATNA: The year 2010 was marked by corruption across the country. But in Bihar, to some extent, it was not corruption that made headlines but the anti-corruption campaign that brought many government servants, including some bureaucrats, under its dragnet.
While the nation was shocked over a series of exposures involving huge corruption, in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar made corruption an electoral issue telling people at his 300-odd poll meetings to take on the corrupt people head on. “The huge mandate given by the people proves that they support my stand on corruption,” Nitish later said.
If Nitish is a natural choice as the person of the year, his war against corruption might have made him a villain for those deeply involved in corrupt practices, be it government servants or politicians. “His tough measures have already sent shivers down the spine of corrupt people,” said water resources development minister Vijay Kumar Chowdhary.
The government measures have resulted in a good number of trap cases and establishment of special courts for speedy trial of cases and confiscation of properties under the provision of the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009, that came into existence only this year.
Laddu Sharma is a terrified public servant these days. Last week, this panchayat sevak of Madanpur panchayat in Madhepura district carried a bag to the circle officer (CO) concerned and surrendered wads of currency notes worth Rs 46,000.
A terribly frightened but repentant Sharma told the CO that he had earned the money through corrupt practices. The panchayat sevak had forcibly taken a cut of Rs 2,000 from each of the 23 beneficiaries of the Kosi tragedy as a matter of right during 2008-09.
Sharma could be a small fry in the ocean of corruption and Rs 46,000 is a very small amount but this incident clearly shows the fallout of the anti-corruption initiatives, which are bearing fruits.
Sources in the State Vigilance Investigation Bureau said that in the first eleven months this year, the agency apprehended 68 corrupt public servants. This number surpassed the total arrests made in nine years during 1996-2005.
The trial cases of 19 corrupt officials is going on under the Bihar Special Courts Act in the designated courts. Of them, the Vigilance Investigation Bureau filed 12 cases in Patna, five in Muzaffarpur and two in Bhagalpur. The accused include serving and retired IAS and IPS officials as well as state government officials.
Raghuvansh Kunwar, a motor vehicle inspector, is one of them against whom the proceeding of the confiscation of his immovable properties is in the final stage.
Nitish has declared that he would get buildings raised through corrupt means confiscated through judicial process and open schools there. “I would be the happiest person to see the first such palatial building confiscated and a school opened there,” he said recently.
The HRD department is all set to make his dream come true and ready to open school in Kunwar’s multi-storied building in the state capital. The people’s eyes are on the palatial buildings in the state capital and other towns which came into existence all of a sudden and caused heart burns among the poor having no roof over their heads and the middle class families living in small congested houses.
The Nitish government knows that waging a war against corruption is a Herculean task. Corruption is more deep rooted than casteism for which Bihar has remained infamous.
To begin with, Nitish in one stroke of the pen finished the legislator area development fund of Rs 1 crore a year. This fund was supposed to breed corruption.
Read more: No place for corrupt in Nitish raj – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/No-place-for-corrupt-in-Nitish-raj/articleshow/7187257.cms#ixzz19dNncX5r