BENGALURU: “Please put up a board of the ‘running rate’ per case now, so that there is transparency in that at least,” Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda asked officials of the Bengaluru south taluk office during a surprise visit on Thursday.
He pulled up the officials over allegations of corruption and delays in administrative work. The minister visited the Bengaluru south taluk office, the north assistant commissioner’s office, and the south AC’s office in view of corruption complaints. At the south taluk office, the minister lambasted the officials for the delay in clearing files.
Referring to the alleged bribes, he said, “What is the ‘running rate’ per case to get approval now? If this is how it works, you might as well put up a rate board outside the office for transparency.” Referring to a case where action was not taken despite a directive issued five months ago, the minister said, “Why didn’t you process the file? If you had rejected the order, I would have respected the decision. But issuing an order and then sitting on it is unacceptable.”
The minister visited the record room and inspected the document scanning work. When he was informed that between 3,000 and 6,000 documents were being scanned daily, he questioned the low output. “Why is the number so low despite having so many staff? In other taluk offices, the daily scanning count is between 12,000 and 13,000,” he said.