Bhubaneswar: In the back drop of the multi
core rupees mining scam in Orissa, Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik on Saturday asked the common man to come forward in exposing
the corrupt persons.
"People should come forward in exposing the corrupt.
Today, the state is marching ahead in all spheres of
development. Hence, it is all the more important for each one
of us to ensure that corrupt practices do not derail the
process of economic growth and development," Patnaik said
while addressing the concluding session of the Vigilance
Awareness Week-2009.
Stating that honesty and transparency were two pillars
of democracy, Patnaik said the Right to Information Act had
come as a great stride forward in achieving the twin goals.
Claiming that anti-corruption wing of the state was
one of the best in the country, the director of vigilance wing
Anup K Patnaik said even senior government officials were not
pared.
"The state vigilance has registered 78 cases against
32 IAS officers, 7 IPS officers and 21 IFS officers during the
last five years", the director said adding that while 11
class-I officers had been convicted in corruption cases, 37
class-II and 109 class-III officers were found guilty.
Besides probing into the mining scam, the vigilance
wing had also exposed the corrupt people in Orissa Health
System Development Project, Orissa Rural Housing Development
Corporation and other tax evasion cases.
On the mining issue, the vigilance director said, "We
have already registred four criminal cases and arrested nine
persons out of which eight were officials of forest and mining
departments."
"Prior to this year's mines enquiry and investigation,
vigilance department had registered 13 cases aaginst various
mining authorities. Hence, altogether 17 criminal cases have
been instituted by the vigilance in mining sector", he said.
Bureau Report