BHUBANESWAR: As large scale irregularities in implementation of different welfare schemes came to the fore, the State Government on Monday decided to constitute oversight committees at different levels to fight corruption.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Secretariat here. He asked the officials to adopt ‘zero tolerance policy’ against corruption.
The State-level oversight committee would be headed by the Chief Secretary, while district and block-level committees would undertake field visits and report the matter to the apex panel. The committee will monitor implementation of different housing schemes in rural areas, Niramaya scheme for free distribution of medicines, Janani Suraksha Yojana and Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) to check corruption.
“Corruption is the biggest enemy of development,” the Chief Minister said and asked the officials to create awareness among the officials and other stakeholders to prevent the menace. Officials from the Vigilance department will also be included as members of the oversight committee at the district and block levels.
The committees at the district and block levels will submit regular reports to the Vigilance Directorate on the implementation of different welfare schemes. The Vigilance will inform different departments about the results after analysing the field reports.
The Chief Minister had given a call to end “PC” (percentage) collected as commission in the rural housing schemes. The State Vigilance Department has received 560 graft allegations in housing schemes. Acting on the basis of allegations, the sleuths have conducted surprise raids in 197 cases and filed cases in 38 cases.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi said, the committee will be formed to take strong action against corruption in the State after the Chief Minister reviewed the allegations of graft.
After a toll free number was announced by the Vigilance department on July 20, 289 allegations of corruption have been received in the implementation of different schemes, Director, Vigilance RP Sharma said. Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan and secretaries of different departments attended.