VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government is contemplating introducing a legislation along the lines of the Disha Act to penalise people caught red-handed in graft cases. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed officials to draft a Bill so it can be introduced in the State Legislative Assembly at the earliest. “Every policy of the government should be such that there is no scope for corruption. People should fear even thinking about corrupt practices,” he said while taking stock of the measures to eradicate corruption in the State and reviewing the performance of the 14400 call centre, reports submitted by the Cabinet Sub Committee, IIM-Ahmedabad on good governance, reverse tendering and judicial preview at his camp office on Monday.
The Chief Minister observed that it should not take years to punish people who are caught red-handed taking bribes. “There are some cases of corruption in which the investigation is on even after 25 years. This sends a wrong signal that we are not serious about anti-corruption measures. The system should be such that those who are caught red-handed are punished in a swift manner,” he said.
Jagan further asserted that corruption must be rooted out at all levels. “We have eradicated 50 per cent of corruption, mostly at higher levels, and the remaining 50 per cent will also be eradicated,” he stated.
While reviewing the performance of the 14400 ACB Call Centre, which was launched last year, officials told Jagan that 44,999 calls were received and 1,747 of them were related to graft.
Of these 1,747, the officials said 1,712 were resolved, while action is being taken in 161 cases, and 35 remain pending.
Integrate 1902 with ACB: CM to officials
The Chief Minister advised the officials to integrate 1902 with the ACB, and accept calls related to graft from village/ward secretariats as well. The system to monitor the complaints received must be improved, he said, and asserted that the 1902 call centre must be strengthened.
“I don’t want there to be any complaints of corruption in town planning, sub register, MRO and MDO offices,” he told the officials.
He also explained how the government’s policy to renegotiate and opt for re-tendering has yielded positive results and benefitted the state exchequer by several crore rupees.
“The previous government entered into an agreement for a power project in Pinnapuram of Kurnool district in July 2018. Accordingly, 4,766.28 acres of land was given at Rs 2.5 lakh per acre. After our government came in, we renegotiated with the company, and for the same specifications, it agreed to pay Rs 5 lakh per acre, which resulted in an additional revenue of Rs 119 crore,” Jagan pointed out.
“Similarly, the company agreed to pay Rs 1 lakh per megawatt for a total of 1,550 MW of power produced; so Rs 322 crore would be paid to the government for 28 years at the rate of Rs 15.5 crore per year.
Further, for the 1,680 MW produced through reverse pumping, the State will be paid Rs 1 lakh per MW for the first 25 years, that is Rs 16.8 crore and Rs 2 lakh per MW thereafter, that is Rs 33.6 crore.
Our government ensured it gets a total revenue of Rs 3,381 crore from the project, while the previous government projected only Rs 119 crore,” he explained and lauded the efforts of officials.
Jagan also said the difference between the performance of the present and previous governments was visible in the Bhogapuram International Airport project. “The previous government allocated 2,703 acres, but we re-negotiated with the same company and saw that project is taken up on just 2,203 acres without any deviation from the plan. The renegotiation saved 500 acres, helped the state exchequer save Rs 1,500 crore,” he said.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that reverse tendering was done for 788 tenders, and added that usually, during the tendering process a saving of 7.7 per cent of the estimated cost is witnessed, but through reverse tendering the saving was 15.01 per cent.
Jagan directed the officials to conduct reverse tendering in every department and make it mandatory for any government project with an estimated cost of at least Rs 1 crore. “There is no exception. Every department, including Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, must go for reverse tendering,” he said, and asked the officials to issue orders to this effect.
On judicial preview, officials said that for every project with an estimated cost of at least Rs 100 crore, judicial preview is being conducted.
They said that between August 2019 and August 2020, a total of 45 projects worth Rs 14,285 crore underwent judicial preview. Later, Prof Sundaravalli Narayana Swami, from IIM Ahmedabad, submitted a report on good governance and anti-corruption, as per the previous agreement.
The report highlights the areas where there are possibilities of graft, and what must be done to address it.
Must not send the wrong signal: Jagan
“There are some cases of corruption in which the investigation is on even after 25 years. This sends a wrong signal that we are not serious...” CM Jagan said after asserting that every policy of the government should be such that there is no scope for corruption.