The Bhagwant Mann-led government in Punjab said ACAL had helped complainants with a platform to register their pleas against even those holding big positions.. (Image: PTI/File)
Despite allegations of “fake” corruption cases, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau said the Chief Minister Anti-Corruption Action Line had achieved significant results after it was set up about 14 months ago
Amid an onslaught by the opposition over leaders being targeted in “fake” corruption cases, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau claimed that the Chief Minister Anti-Corruption Action Line has achieved significant results after it was set up about 14 months ago. Since March 23, 2022, the 24-hour service had received 7,939 complaints accompanied with evidence, officials said.
According to the VB, any person could file complaints at any time of the day along with relevant audio and video evidence on this citizen-centric artificial intelligence-enabled platform. The complaints could be related to demand of illegal gratification, officials said.
Though the opposition trashed the state government’s claims of a crackdown on corruption, the Bhagwant Mann-led government said the ACAL had helped complainants with a platform to register their pleas against even those “holding big positions”. Officials said to ensure an efficient process, an “automatic bot” had been installed on the web portal to filter out frivolous entries, spam, junk posts and those unrelated to corruption.
“As a result, out of a total of 4,02,133 entries, 3,90,050 entries were identified as irrelevant or classified as junk posts and non-corruption related matters, which were duly rejected. This initiative aims to optimise resources and focus solely on actionable complaints that contribute to combating corruption effectively,” an official said.
They said among actionable complaints, the VB handled 7,939 complaints accompanied by audio/video recordings to substantiate the claims. These complaints underwent meticulous analysis and 3,401 were found to be related to other departments. Consequently, these complaints were forwarded to those departments for consideration and appropriate action. The VB spokesperson said the remaining 394 complaints, supported by audio/video recording evidence, were directly related to corruption allegations. These were forwarded to the senior superintendents of police in the VB ranges for thorough investigation.
“As a result of rigorous examinations, a milestone has been achieved, with a total of 88 FIRs registered based on the outcomes of the investigations conducted thus far,” said the spokesperson, further highlighting that these investigations had resulted in the arrest of 132 people allegedly involved in bribery cases, including 40 police personnel.
Since the commencement of this anti-corruption campaign in April 2022, the VB has successfully apprehended 359 people accused of accepting bribes in 298 corruption cases throughout the state. In addition, 152 vigilance inquiries have been registered for comprehensive investigation, and 99 departmental inquiries have been initiated.
