BMC tops corruption charts, cops second

MUMBAI: Whatever be their failings, the BMC and the Mumbai police cannot be faulted for inconsistency, at least where corruption levels are concerned.

According to the most recent information from the anti-corruption bureau (ACB), they remain the two most corrupt agencies in the city. While the police topped the charts last year and the BMC came in second, the two have traded positions this time, with the civic body claiming first place.

However, there���s some good news from the state revenue department, whose corruption rate has dropped drastically this year. Until a few years ago, this department topped the graft graphs, ACB sources said.

According to the ACB, the number of arrests has plummeted to less than half of last year���s figure. In 2007, the bureau registered 80 corruption cases and arrested 121 people. Besides government officials, the arrests also included three private individuals who took bribes at the behest of government officials. And this year, until October, the ACB had registered only 42 cases and arrested 60 government servants.

Sources said that although corruption was rampant in Mhada and the sales tax, law & judiciary and cooperatives departments, few complaints were received. This suggests the possibility that people pay bribes willingly.

ACB officials were somewhat baffled that they did not get a single complaint last week, when the bureau observed its vigilance awareness week. ���Even we are surprised by the falling rates of traps,������ said a senior officer who requested anonymity.

But some sources question the ACB figures, which say the number of traps has fallen, and maintain that corruption continues in almost all departments. Sceptics claim that the number of traps has fallen not because of greater public awareness about graft, but because corrupt officials have become more savvy about how and when to accept bribes.

Citing a recent case, an ACB official said,���The officers have become so cautious that they demand bribes either through indirect channels or through a common friend, and if they are particularly suspicious, they don���t accept the money.������

Another ACB official said, ���A police official who demanded a Rs 15-lakh bribe made sure the complainant walked into his office alone, after being thoroughly checked for a hidden button camera or recorder.������

This year, there is not a single case of U-turn traps or ���ulta traps������, in which the person who gives the bribe to a government official is booked. There were three such cases last year.

A top ACB official noted that most citizens believed the system worked only by greasing palms.