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Vigilance Bureau raids transport offices in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur
Corruption check: Searches after vigilance received graft complaints; no arrest.
The vigilance bureau raided various offices of the regional transport authority in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur on Friday. This comes days after the arrest of Pyara Singh, secretary at assistant regional transport authority (ARTA) office in Hoshiarpur for allegedly taking monthly bribe from transporters.
Besides the regional transport offices in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, vigilance sleuths also raided the offices at the automated driving test tracks in the two district and sealed the entire record.
The department had formed four teams, comprising four deputy superintendent police (DSP)-rank officials, three inspectors, one sub-inspector, nine assistant sub-inspectors, nine head constable, four constables and some government officials as witnesses. The raid started around 12 noon and lasted for over five hours.
Sources said the raids were conducted after the vigilance bureau received complaints that transport officials have formed a nexus with agents and are involved in corrupt practices.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), vigilance, DS Dhillon, said it is clear that officials of the transport department, with the help of agents and staff of Smart Chip Company, are indulged in corrupt practices.
“After learning about the raid, many government officials fled from the office. This clearly proves that there is something wrong in the department’s functioning. We have asked deputy commissioner and the regional transport authority to ask those who were absent during the raid to join the investigation,” Dhillon said.
However, no arrest was made during the raid but the vigilance officials have seized records from all offices.
