By Amit Cowper

Gandhinagar, Dec 27 (IANS): Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was at his candid best on Wednesday when he regretted that corruption in the government system had become a norm now, while stating that officials would think twice before indulging in it around 25 years ago.

"Twenty to 25 years back, any government official would shiver at the mere mention of bribe and used to tell the person who wanted to bribe him, I don't want my wife and children to be punished," the Chief Minister said.

"But now, today, the whole scenario has turned around 360 degrees. Today they call the person and while asking for bribe say, 'I too have a family to look after'. There are even some who want corruption to be made legal."

He did not mention that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been ruling Gujarat since 1995, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister from October, 2001, to 2013.

However, the chief minister quickly said his government was determined to change all that now.

Rupani was addressing the public during distribution of NA (Non agricultural) use certificates and dedication of some government offices. The Gujarat Government recently announced that the process of NA certification would be carried out on online platform.

The Chief Minister said, "The maximum corruption is in the revenue department and thereafter comes the police department."

The Gujarat government made the process of land conversion from agricultural use to that of non agricultural online. The chief minister on Wednesday distributed one thousand of such NA certificates to the beneficiaries.

Rupani said, "In the coming five years, we want to make every certification, permission online, doing away with any chances of corruption. My government is committed change the entire work culture by developing online mechanism."

The government claims that through the recent changes in the system, the permission for NA conversion has been reduced from 90 days to mere 9 days.