VISAKHAPATNAM : The Commercial Taxes department among the departments in Visakhapatnam district, and the district itself in the state have earned the dubious distinction of topping in the traps laid down by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) traps, closely followed by the Revenue and Registration departments.
In an interaction with newsmen, ACB deputy superintendent of police (DSP) A Ramakrishna Prasad said that out of 11 cases which were registered in Visakhapatnam, 40 per cent belonged to the Commercial Taxes department, Revenue and Registration are the other departments.
Ramakrishna said that Visakhapatnam district was one which witnessed most number of ACB cases in the state with 22 traps and four asset cases in 2014. Till June-end this year, the district has registered 11 traps and one asset case.
Ramakrishna said that there had been an increase in bribe cases in interior villages, where VROs demand bribes for pattadar passbook works. VROs have been found taking advantage of the fact that the farmers are uneducated.
“The farmers must know that they should initially approach the Mee-Seva centres, produce the required certificates, which will be forwarded to the VRO, who goes through the application. That’s how the work gets done,” said Ramakrishna. He also said that there was a need to create awareness on such things.
“There is also a toll-free number 1064, through which one can approach the Anti Corruption Bureau ,” he added.