Grouses galore at meet on curbing corruption

The Lokayukta and representatives of various organisations listened to grievances galore of victims of corruption, mainly the visually challenged and differently abled, at the conference on ‘Improving the Standards of Public Administration by Reducing Corruption, Favouritism and Official Indiscipline’ at the Lokayukta Day programme here on Thursday.

Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao heard the victims and advised them not to lose hope and trust the institution of Lokayukta. 

“They were either harassed by tahsildars or other officers and denied of their rights and benefits,” Syed Riyaz, the Lokayukta DCP, said. Some officers demanded money to provide government benefits, while others denied the benefits on technical grounds.  

Title deed ordeal

Sharada J from Gadag narrated her 10-year-old story of fight against corruption to obtain a title deed. 

“Whenever I knocked on the doors of the revenue department, the officials wanted me to bribe them or give them ornaments. I finally approached the Lokayukta and obtained the title deed,” she said.

Venkatanarayana and Lakshmamma, a couple from Devanahalli and visually challenged by birth, narrated how the then tahsildar Asha Parveen denied them pension. “She prevented us from receiving pension. Finally, the Lokayukta helped us,” Venkatanarayana said.

Bus passes, BPL cards

There were also those who struggled to get bus passes and BPL cards. Two college students from Kolar said they approached the Lokayukta to get water supply to their college.

Upalokayuktas Justices S B Majage and Subhas B Adi, addressing the gathering, said that it was a Herculean task for the Lokayukta officers to prevent corrupt practices in government departments. 

They said the onus of curbing corruption rests with the public to some extent. People should be vigilant and refuse to pay bribes. They should approach the appropriate authorities, they said and added that nothing could change just by an institution, but enlightened citizens could bring about a revolution.