THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: "It is the land that has been held by my family for generations. The High Court had ordered to grant the title deed. However, I got tired of visiting various offices over the last four years. The officials said that the documents were missing. I lost all hope and had no clue what to do. That was when a retired official came to me and assured me that I'll get the title deed within a month if I paid two lakhs. All the missing documents surfaced. Thus I managed to get the thing done by giving Rs 2 lakhs."
These words of a 56-year-old man named Varghese from Thiruvananthapuram are a direct testimony of the corruption prevalent in the revenue department. Parallel village offices are functioning in many places under the leadership of retired revenue officials. Last day, the police found two such centres in Balussery and Nanmanda in Kozhikode. There are people in Thiruvananthapuram who have opened offices near the Secretariat and transact business and those who take bribes through GooglePay of agents.
Land conversion, Title deed, Liability certificate, Possession etc are some of the transactions that can fetch large amounts as bribes. Revenue, which was second in the corruption index of departments prepared by Vigilance in 2017, now ranks first. The local self-government department was at the top spot in 2017. The Vigilance has arrested 12 revenue officers in 28 trap operations conducted this year. Although government-level actions will be taken against corrupt officials, there is no shortage of corruption.
Officers caught red-handed
Arrests made this year
Revenue...................12
Local...................8
Health...............2
Registration.........2
Police...................1
Education.............1
University……1
Water Authority.........1
Irrigation..............1
Supplyco.............1