Kejri's graft helpline may now take on new avatar

Plans to make it tackle consumer grievances

Outgoing chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s much-hyped anti-corruption helpline may now be expanded to address all kinds of consumer grievances.

At a high-level meeting in Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar Srivastava’s office earlier this week, the department heads of the Delhi government supported reworking on the helpline to make it better.

“The system of anti-corruption helpline was being handled by a special team appointed by the former chief minister. The officials at the secretariat were novices when it came to the functioning of the helpline. Now we are trying to understand what can be done to expand it. We are discussing the possibilities of its use as a consumer grievance redressal system,” he said.

The officials are also considering multiple layers of scrutiny of the complaints in graft cases.

“Anyone can come with a fake voice recording. We have to ensure that any law enforcer never initiate enquiry in fake graft cases. We are emphasising on the use of information and technology to counter fake graft cases,” he added.

To ensure that no complaint ever gets dumped by the call centre or the department official before proper scrutiny, the officials have emphasised on setting up a system.

“Right from the time of commencement of the anti-corruption helpline number, only 10-20 per cent cases are being forwarded for further action. We have to think about rest of the cases. If any complaint is genuine and important and the complainant is not able to conduct a sting then we have to provide every possible help to them. We are discussing on a system in which such complaints will be followed,” the official added.
The anti-corruption number 1031 was launched by Kejriwal and the location of its call centre was kept a secret.

The functioning  of the call centre, which works in two shifts — 8 am to 1 pm and 1 pm to 10 pm — has now been handed over to the bureaucrats following the resignation of Kejriwal from the post of chief minister and implementation of Presidents’ rule in Delhi.
The official also said the process of installation of CCTV cameras in the government offices is on and a control room will be constructed soon.