Delhi anti-corruption helpline gets over 12,000 calls in 24 hours

NEW DELHI: AAP government's anti-corruption helpline, re-launched yesterday in Delhi, has received 12,731 calls in 24 hours, with most of them wanting to know about the process of registering a graft case.

"Most of the calls received at helpline were made to inquire about how to register corruption case with the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB). The calls received so far are being analyzed to segregate between frivolous and real calls," a senior official said today.

Yesterday Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had launched the 24x7 helpline, which can answer over 10,000 calls a day.

The made-over re-launch comes after the service, during AAP's previous stint, could respond to only 1,000 calls a day due to shortage of lines, the official said.

He also said genuine calls, after segregation, would be forwarded to Anti-Corruption Branch for further investigation.

"Some of the calls which have been segregated have already been sent to the ACB for further probe. Cases being forwarded to the ACB include complaints against Delhi Police, Municipal Corporation, Education Department, Transport Department, Jal Board, Delhi Fire etc," he said.

The data of calls received will be made public on a regular basis for the convenience and information of the public, official said.

In order to strengthen the Anti Corruption Branch, government has increased its strength from 30 to 40 inspectors who work with 40 teams to investigate cases of corruption at any point of time.

Besides increasing its staff strength, Delhi Government has directed to increase the budget allocation to the anti-graft wing to Rs 15 crore from Rs 8 crore.

The official also said the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC), an advisory body of the AAP government, will study global practices and define a vision for ACB.

The anti-corruption helpline was first launched during Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) 49-day stint in power after the 2013 Assembly elections, but was later discontinued. Reviving the helpline was one of the poll promises made by the party this year.

Last time around 1.2 lakh calls were made on the helpline, during 49 days of AAP's rule.