With Delhi Government encouraging people to report corruption, the Department of Administrative Reforms (DAR) has received a total number of 2,19, 994 calls pertaining to corrupt practices last year. It would be pertinent to mention here that DAR had received 70,000 calls in the year 2017.
As per the data shared by the Department of Administrative Reforms (DAR) to an RTI query filed by activist Zeeshan Haider, it has shown a rise in the number of abandoned calls related to corrupt activities.
Soon after, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Government came to power after landslide victory in 2015 in the national Capital, it launched a special drive against corruption and put a dedicated helpline number 1031 in 2015 for the public to deal with the cases of public grievance, corruption and others.
As per the data, in 2017 a total of 5,110 abandon calls were received while it has increased thrice in the year 2018 i.e, 37,020. The number of abandon calls received last year is 37,020. Further, 2, 19,994 calls related to corrupt activities were received in 2018 out of which 208408 were answered and remaining 11,586 were fake calls.
The data, a copy of which is with The Pioneer shows that the large numbers of calls were received between September to December of the corresponding period.
“Delhi Government has been proactive against corrupt practices and has taken corrective measures in many cases. The Government has taken action against many officers involved in corrupt practices. Such cases take time in being probed and complainants back out,” said an official. The data of “abandoned calls” are analysed to understand the reasons behind it. It has been found that persons who abandon their calls, face fear, risk to their lives.
“Many a times we receive multiple calls from the same number but the caller remains silent and that queers the pitch for the officials as they can not initiate any action in absence of details. Such calls are regular occurrences but we can not do much,” said a Government official on condition of anonymity.
