219 govt officials arrested for corruption since formation of Uttarakhand in 2001

As many as 118 officials arrested during nearly seven years of BJP rule, and 101 during 10 years of Congress rule; 158 cases under investigation

The vigilance department of the Uttarakhand police detected 207 corruption cases since the state’s formation in 2001 till August this year, and arrested 219 accused officials, official data shows.

Vigilance data shows that most of the accused – 59 -- were nabbed in 2009 and 2010 when Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank of the BJP was the chief minister. (HT File)

Among the arrested, 55 were gazetted officers and 164 non-gazetted. Authority for a gazetted officer to issue an official stamp comes from the President or the governors. If a person’s name is published in the gazette, he/she is called gazetted.

In about 10 years of the Congress rule in the state, 101 were arrested for corruption and 118 during the nearly seven years of the BJP rule.

“At present 158 cases of corruption are under investigation after informing the administration about them,” said Ram Singh Meena, additional director general of police, administration, and vigilance director.

“Among the 158 cases, 58 are about accumulation of property by government employees more than then their sources of income. The remaining 100 are about other types of corruption. Among these, departmental action has been taken in 33 cases, charge sheets have been filed in five cases, and final reports have been filed in 7 cases. 52 of them were found to be false after initial investigations.”

Meena said the vigilance department has been taking steps to encourage people to report incidents of corruption.

“We have been putting up posters and notices featuring contact numbers for lodging complaints against government employees. We have also asked for deploying nodal officers in departments, such as PWD, engineering and irrigation,” he said.

“Complaint boxes have been placed at the collectorates. Awareness campaigns are being run through advertisements in movie theatres and major public places. We urge people to inform the vigilance department about corruption incidents.”