Budget for anti- graft body hiked
The AAP government has doubled the strength of its Anti- Corruption Bureau for effective handling of the cases reported to its anti- corruption helpline, which will be relaunched on April 5 to help combat corruption in the national capital.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday that the number of inspectors in the bureau has been increased to 40. “That means effectively we will have about 40 teams ready at any given point of time to crack cases related to corruption.”
Mr Sisodia said that the ACB officers have been fully trained to handle the cases reported to the anticorruption helpline. “Even the budget of the ACB and vigilance branch have been increased from ` 8 crore to ` 15 crore.”
The aim of the move was to ensure that the cases reported to the helpline were effectively handled in a time- bound manner, he said. The helpline will be re- launched by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at Talkatora Indoor stadium on Sunday in a function that will be open to public. A senior official said that all the MLAs and city MPs are likely to be invited for the re- launch.
“The legislators have been told to bring in as many people as they can from their respective constituencies.”
During his 49- day tenure as the chief minister, Mr Kejriwal had launched a helpline, ( 011) 27357169, to combat corruption.
The AAP administration is expected to launch a massive advertising campaign to make people aware about the usage of the anti- corruption helpline. The government intends to launch a massive advertising campaign of about ` 7 crore to make people aware of the helpline.
The chief minister has already directed all his heads of departments to install a board at the receptions of their respective offices to display the campaign creatives with a clear message for awareness of the visitors about the helpline.
A circular in this regard is being issued to all the principal secretaries, secretaries, HoDs and heads of autonomous bodies.