JOIN USKejriwal geared to revive city's directorate of vigilance
The anti-corruption drive of the Delhi government may soon go into top gear with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal setting his eyes on reviving the directorate of vigilance which he claims was weakened under the previous Congress regime.
The chief minister, who had made a major announcement on fighting corruption within minutes of taking oath on December 28, said the promised helpline against corruption was in the pipeline.
Kejriwal said the ground work for starting the helpline was underway. “I have been working on its backend since a week," he told reporters before his party's National Executive's meeting here.
The chief minister said the vigilance department or the anti-corruption branch was short of staff and “we are trying to strengthen the department.”
According to the chief minister the sanctioned strength of inspectors in the department was 30 but only 11 were working. “The department needs overhauling,” he said.
The anti-corruption branch comes under the chief minister’s office but under the previous government it had been reduced it to an empty room, he said.
“We need to bring honest officers to the vigilance department and I am working on it,” said Kejriwal.
During the previous government’s regime when people made complaints of corruption to the department, its personnel sat on them and tried to cover up, he said.
The 45-year-old chief minister has repeated on several occasions, including in the Delhi Assembly, that he would not spare those involved in corrupt practices whether it is former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, any BJP legislator or councillor or any member of his government.
To this end, the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam will be one of his priority areas.
The Chief Minister said as an activist he had raised the issue of corruption in the preparations for the CWG and also brought out a report based on newspaper articles.
A former minister of Dikshit government and Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said, “Our party was open to any inquiry into previous government’s decisions.”
Kejriwal’s stand against corruption, especially under the previous Congress government, seems firm despite his party’s minority government dependent on support of eight Congress MLAs in the Assembly.