Bangalore: Call Against Corruption - Posters at Govt Offices to Counter Bribery
Daijworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Mar 30: Even as Anna Hazare and his team of crusaders are busy with their demand for a Jan Lokpal Bill, a Bangalore-based NGO is doing its own bit to eradicate or at least control the evil of corruption in the city.
The volunteers of Janaagraha will take forward the movement against corruption with a practical, simple and yet unique approach - by sticking anti-bribery posters in around 300 goverment offices across the state capital.
The posters, under the 'posters lagao corruption hatao' campaign are aimed to dissuade people from bribing government officials, and have been pasted at BBMP, BWSSB and land registration offices on a trial basis.
The campaign was approved recently by chief secretary S V Ranganath, after much pesuasion and deliberation by the volunteers.
The poster campaign is the brainchild of Subrahmanyam Ivatury, who joined the NGO less than a year back.
Janaagraha is already at the forefront of the anti-corruption movement in the city through its unique online initiative 'ipaidabribe', where people from across the nation can narrate how they were either forced to pay bribe or stood up against corrupt officials.
The site has already recieved a whopping 15,584 complaints of bribery from 478 cities across India. The total amount of bribe paid by these people amounts to an astonishing Rs 43,47,79,364. One can only imagine the bribe paid by the rest of India who have not shared their stories on the website yet.
'ipaidabribe' site has not only stories of collecting or paying bribes, but even of those upright, honest officials who do not indulge in corruption. One can also report the good works done by the government.
The poster to be put up in government offices will have a mobile number to which one can SMS an incident of bribery. The first phase of the campaign will cover government offices, and in a few weeks' time will be extended to police stations, as nearly 6,000 complaints on 'ipaidabribe' website deals with bribery among policemen.
Interestingly, a survey called 'Market price of corruption' done by 'ipaidabribe' has revealed that Bangaloreans top the list of bribe payers, having offered a staggering Rs 11.35 crore as bribe during the survey period. Delhi and Mumbai pale in comparison, with the bribe amounting to Rs 4.8 crore and Rs 4.5 crore respectively.