Corruption runs deep in Telangana, AP govt offices, say 95% respondents to survey

HYDERABAD: A whopping 95% of the respondents in a survey conducted by ‘Youth for Anti Corruption’ in 36 districts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh opined that corruption is prevalent in government offices.The survey on corruption in government offices and officials covered a sample of 20,211 people, 39.3% of whom said that it was rampant.

As many as 64% of the respondents said that they were not happy with their MLAs, 65% said that there were corruption allegations against their MLAs, and 72% said that their MLAs were not accessible.The survey report was released by former CBI joint director VV Lakshminarayana, former MLA K Ramulu and YAC founder P Rajendra in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

As per the report, people’s faith in investigative agencies like the ACB and Vigilance Commission has been on the decline, and 50% of the people felt that brokers in government offices have become the cause for the roots of corruption digging deeper. Asked which was the most corrupt department, among 23 categories, respondents placed the Revenue department on top position, followed by Registrations, Police and Municipal departments.

When asked whether there were any honest officials working in their region, 54% of respondents said that fewer than 20% were honest. Almost 60% of the respondents said that government officials either neglected them, or behaved rudely when they approached their office with some grievance or work.Around 48% said that their work was not getting done without a bribe, and 28.4% said that hurdles were being placed by officials if they did not offer a bribe.

Lakshminarayana said that corruption was more dangerous than cancer, and that it acted as a hindrance to progress. Observing that India ranked 86 in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, he said that corruption was lowest in Scandinavian countries like Switzerland, Norway and Sweden, and this was the reason they were progressing well.

Pointing out that while the people were reluctant to use the services of State-run educational institutions or hospitals, he wondered why people were competing to get government jobs in massive numbers.