THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) on Wednesday conducted 'Operation Khichdi', a statewide raid on government offices to examine the transparency of the services being provided to the public.
As many as 74 teams led by the DySP of each district took part in the 'flash raid' following the instructions of Vigilance Director-in charge ADGP N Shankar Reddy.
During the raids, the sleuths found several applications awaiting disposal all over the state. The raid began at 2.30 pm simultaneously at 71 government offices, including the Kerala Water Authority, Beverages Corporation and the Public Works Department.
At the Kerala Water Authority offices, many officials were found to have failed to initiate revenue recovery proceedings. At the BEVCO offices, the officials were found to have hidden unaccounted money in the bill tube near the bill machine. At the Public Works Department, several irregularities were found in the disbursal of funds for road construction.
According to Shankar Reddy, the raids were conducted in the wake of numerous complaints by the public on the irregularities and delay in the disbursal of welfare fund.
"In fact, the 'surprise raids' were part of bringing transparency in the public service delivery system. At many places, we found minor discrepancies in granting funds to the public through government offices," he said.
The vigilance director added that disciplinary action and further measures would be taken against the tainted officers soon.
Unlike 'Operation Gramam,' 'Operation Khichdi' is the latest drive initiated by the Vigilance to keep a check on the transparency in government offices. 'Operation Gramam' was the raid conducted on village offices.
One of the complaints received was the apathy shown by government officials in releasing funds. The shoddy and arrogant attitude of government employees also faced severe criticism.