State Special Branch report exposes rampant corruption in Revenue Department

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The report submitted by the State Special Branch to the Chief Minister to clean up the corruption-ridden Revenue Department has not seen the light of day. The findings in the report submitted to the government in June 2022 are extremely serious. The Revenue Department examined the report in detail and handed it over to the government, but it didn't see the light of the day.

Of the 170 village offices studied, 17 were found to be corruption-free. That is, only ten percent. 11 offices (6.5%) were very corrupt. It was directed to immediately transfer the officials of these offices to offices with less public contact and provide necessary training.

The lack of front office system in 132 offices was also pointed out. The report, which outlined the causes of corruption, also included remedial suggestions. The Special Branch officials secretly collected information and prepared a 200-page report. The report also states that since the scope of a good percentage of village offices is very large, services cannot be provided to the people in a timely manner. The jurisdiction of such villages should be reduced or more employees should be allowed.

Another important suggestion was to adopt modern methods instead of direct payments. The report also said that employees who have been serving in the same section of an office for more than three years should be transferred to other sections. It was said that surveillance cameras should be installed in all offices.

Village offices mired in corruption

Vellanad (Thiruvananthapuram), Sasthamkotta (Kollam), Rajakkad (Idukki), Puthenchira (Thrissur), Mathur, Malampuzha (Palakkad), Ponnani, Perinthalmanna (Malappuram), Pazhaveedu, Kalavoor (Alappuzha) and Puthenvelikara (Kottayam) villages were the worst affected by corruption at the time of preparing the report.