23 complaints against different departments land in DM’s ‘black box’

Ghaziabad: Officials on Wednesday opened up the ‘black box’, which was installed at the district headquarters to invite complaints from members of general public.

Ghaziabad: Officials on Wednesday opened up the ‘black box’, which was installed at the district headquarters to invite complaints from members of general public. The move was aimed at ‘trapping’ staff members demanding bribes from the public, the district officials said.

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The officials said that they found 23 complaints inside the box, which was opened in presence of senior officials and videography was also done.

The officials said five complaints were related to the police department, four against the municipal corporation, two each against revenue and district supplies’ offices, while one each was received against UP State Industrial Development Corporation, forest department, office of additional district magistrate (land acquisition), district social welfare department, Avas Vikas Parishad, Ghaziabad development authority and basic education office, among others.

“The complaints have been categorised under four heads. First, the complaint received without the name and addresses of complainants have also been taken into account and explanation has been sought from respective department heads. Second set of complaints is related to minting of money by officials and we have sought all property details from the respective officials,” district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said in a statement.

“Third set of complaints is for missing or irregularities in documents. I have sought the said documentation from the respective officials in four instances. The fourth set of complaints is related to alleged favours for doing work. For this, the complainants have been called in person and after getting him/her verified, the procedure for trap will be initiated with the help of vigilance department,” the statement added.

In December last year, the anti-corruption department had laid a trap and got arrested one woman employee while in another instance a staff member was suspended and an inquiry initiated after complainant produced videos in which it was purportedly shown that the staff member was allegedly demanding bribe to get the work done.

The district magistrate has also directed the officials to put up a slip near the ‘black box’ where the complainants will be asked to write their names and addresses for authentication. The names will be kept confidential, the officials added.