SRIKAKULAM: In an attempt to eliminate corruption, a young revenue officer is encouraging farmers and the general public to give an undertaking that they won’t offer bribes for any revenue department-related work. Rajam tahsildar P Venugopal Rao initiated his anti-corruption drive three days ago, and has received such undertakings from about 100 people so far.
People generally offer bribes to revenue officials to get their work done without a delay. ACB sleuths have caught such officials red-handed. Venugopal Rao, meanwhile, has been raising awareness about corruption among the people who visit him at his office for work, and also tells them to pass the message on to others.
Rather than just focusing on telling officials to abstain from corruption, Venugopal Rao seeks to bring about a change from the other end as well. “Revenue officials are often blamed for indulging in corruption, so I launched this drive to make them feel proud. I have received good support from the officials and the public,” he said.
The revenue department in the mandal has 22 village revenue officers, besides VRAs and 10 other staff, he added. “Though we raised awareness against corruption by erecting banners and posters, and held meetings with officials, the results were not as expected. The change needs to start in the minds of both the public and the officials,” he said, adding that a few revenue officials recently approached him and promised to carry on the message to society at large, to rid it of corruption.
Recounting his experience, Yalamanchili Bandari, a farmer from Gadimudidam village in Rajam mandal, said, “I was impressed with the ideology of the mandal tahsildar and gave an undertaking that I won’t offer a bribe. I will also tell others about it.”