Bhubaneswar: Taking note of the rising incidence of corruption in Odisha, the State Vigilance has decided to adopt preventive vigilance mechanism very soon.
“The State Vigilance is focussed on preventive vigilance. We are trying for a vigilance study on various schemes, especially development schemes of the state government, the existing procedures and practices and the regulatory functions so that we would be able to devise adequate methods of control over exercise of discretion and identify the areas which are prone to corruption, and ensure transparency, objectivity and minimum chances of leakage,” Director, State Vigilance, Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, told the media here on Thursday.
Stating that the number of allegations on corruption like bribery, cheating, tender fixing and disproportionate assets, received by the State Vigilance had gone up manifold in last three years, Khurania said the State Vigilance has laid emphasis on bringing down the rate of corruption instead of disposing of the cases and punishing the corrupt.
“Our first priority is to identify the areas where there is a possibility of corruption and then advise the state government on the remedial measures needed,” he added.
Welcoming the move, former Director General of Police (DGP) Gopal Nanda said those who indulge in corrupt practices will not dare to lay their hands on bribe and will be caught if they get into it.
“I feel if modern technologies are applied to the administrative mechanism, the people will have the chance to get their rights,” he pointed out.
He said preventive vigilance is one of the strategies towards good governance as it involves studying the organisation, its policies and people to identify their vulnerabilities to corruption and recommend corrective measures. It also involves cutting down on administrative delays, reducing arbitrariness and discretion in decision making, simplification of rules and procedures and bring about more transparency, accountability and openness in government functioning,
The anti-corruption wing had registered 285 cases in 2013, which went up to 404 in 2014 and 464 last year.