VIJAYAWADA: With many complaints of irregularities and corruption against town planning officials, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths conducted surprise raids at municipal corporation town planning offices across the State on Tuesday.
According to ACB officials, simultaneous raids were carried out at municipal corporations in Anantapur, Kadapa, Tirupati, Kurnool, Guntur, Vijayawada, Ongole, Nellore, Eluru, Rajahmundry, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram, and at zonal offices in Pendurthi, Gajuwaka and Madhurawada in Vizag.
During the raids, the ACB officials reportedly found irregularities pertaining to building permissions and BPS regularisation applications and also noticed corrupt practices and several irregularities allegedly committed by the staff of town planning wings of various municipal corporations in the State. The ACB officials also found that several staff members were indulging in corrupt practices and committing several irregularities in the sanctioning of building plans and in the regularization of BPS (Building Penalisation Scheme) and LRS (Layout Regularization Scheme).
Further, several irregularities were noticed in the approval of building plans and in the regularisation of building plans under the BPS and LRS. Certain mandatory registers, such as Vacant Land Tax Registers were not being properly maintained by the staff. “Many building approval applications have been pending for a long time without any decision being taken on them. Further searches are still in progress,” according to ACB officials.
Citizens were urged to report instances of bribery or corruption to ACB officers or through ACB toll-free number 1064, mobile no 9440440057, or email complaints-acb@ap.gov.in.