Rupani says his govt committed to uprooting corruption

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said Wednesday that his government was committed to uprooting the menace of corruption from the system.

“We have introduced a culture of zero tolerance towards corruption in our work system due to which for more than last two decades, we have been able to give ‘sushasan’ (good governance) to the people and ensure that not a single paisa of the public goes to waste. In Gujarat, we have brought all departments, including mining, revenue and urban development, under digitalisation to bring transparency and weed out corruption through our single-window clearance policy,” Rupani said. He was addressing a virtual meet organised by the Gujarat ACB on International Anti-Corruption Day.

The CM said the state had expanded the jurisdiction of ACB and given them special rights. “We have provided legal advisors, panels of chartered accountants, technical advisors, revenue advisors, 75 public prosecutors and forensic experts to the Gujarat ACB so that it swiftly fights against corruption. We have provided modern interrogation room with voice analysis technology to ACB and a fund of Rs 90.5 lakh has been given to the anti-bribery unit to purchase state-of-the-art gadgets. We have also offered internship opportunities to students of National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) and Gujarat Law University (GLU) in the anti-bribery unit under ACB,” he said.

State Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja, Law And Justice Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court Vikram Nath, and Justices JB Pardiwala and R M Chhaya, were among the other dignitaries who attended the virtual event.

“The United Nations Secretary-General has rightly said that corruption is immoral, criminal and the ultimate betrayal of public trust and even more damaging in the times of Covid-19 pandemic, where the response to the virus has opened new opportunities to exploit the weak by diverting funds away from them in their hour of greatest need. Gandhiji once said that we are all thieves in a way if we take anything that we don’t need for our own immediate use… This year itself, the Gujarat ACB has detected a total of 181 cases and arrested 276 accused of which 185 are government officials,” Chudasama said.

Chief Justice of Gujarat High Couert Justice Nath said corruption not only undermines democracy and the rule of law but also “erodes trust in public institutions and compromises social contract”.

Justice JB Pardiwala said in a country like India, the victims of corruption were the poor, the underprivileged, and the downtrodden.

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