Odisha Vigilance on Track To Ensure Zero Tolerance Against Corruption

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s call for zero tolerance against corruption and maintaining transparency in governance is bearing fruits with the state vigilance department becoming proactive and taking no cognizance when dealing with corruption at various levels.

Under the active leadership of Director Debasis Panigrahi, the vigilance department has been pursuing the corruption cases swiftly and the number of people caught has risen considerably. Be it officials dealing with public services or public servants occupying higher posts, nobody is above law and they cannot escape the scrutiny.

After the arrest of IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya on charges of taking illegal gratification, former MLA from Bhawanipatna Anam Naik has been arrested on charges of corruption and disproportionate assets. The arrests of high profile individuals have proved the notion that only a few lower and middle rank officials are targeted by the vigilance department as only a misnomer.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given a free hand to the enforcement agencies to act tough on corruption cases and has been strongly pushing for the effective implementation of 5T and Mo Sarkar Initiatives.

Speaking at a program during the vigilance awareness week, Naveen said “Transparency tops the government’s 5T initiative. Corruption undermines growth, development and good governance. We have adopted a zero tolerance approach towards corruption so that everyone gets the benefits of welfare and developmental schemes. Initiatives such as Mo Sarkar try to empower people to claim their rightful entitlements,”.

This proactive initiative of the state vigilance department has brought a positive reflection for the department and people are coming to it more and more complaints of corruption. Director Debasis Panigrahi’s active involvement in the important cases has helped a lot in bring the corrupt to books. He has been instrumental in bring in a fresh vigor to the department and activating the mechanism.