Indian Express 5.11.2009
BMC officials pledge to be clean, transparent
A day after the Anti-Corruption Bureau ranked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as the most corrupt public body in the city, acting municipal commissioner and additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev conducted the ‘oath taking’ ceremony of top BMC officials asking them to be ‘clean, transparent and development oriented’.
“It is unfortunate that since two years, the BMC is emerging as the most corrupt body, according to the ACB’s Vigilance Awareness Week drive,” Rajeev said. The oath taking ceremony is a yearly ritual in all government offices.
However, Rajeev added that ACB’s conclusion was not definite. “The ranking is based on the number of officials from a public body caught taking bribes. But that also depends on the number of raids carried out by the ACB in that particular agency’s offices,” Rajeev added.
Seventeen BMC officials were caught taking bribe. The Mumbai Police ranked second with 15 police personnel found guilty.
Rajeev said that the civic body is undertaking many initiatives to get rid of its corrupt image. “Computerization of building proposals department, that is believed to be the most corrupt, and rationalization of the procedure of transfer of engineers are some of the efforts being undertaken to induce transparency,” Rajeev said.
