Vigilance awareness week celebrated in Odisha

--424 public servants convicted in 5-yr: CM

BHUBANESWAR: “During past five years, as many as 424 public servants have been convicted by the Vigilance Courts and 145 public servants have been dismissed from service on grounds of corruption,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attending the observation of Vigilance Awareness Week-2013 held here on Thursday.

Patnaik said that Vigilance Department’s proactive action has encouraged people to lodge complaints against corrupt public servants. As a result of such activism, the department was able to register 402 criminal cases last year and launched prosecution against 705 public servants, he added.

“I am happy to learn that conviction percentage in Vigilance cases has reached a record 58 percent this year, which is much better than all other cases,” said Patnaik, adding, “Odisha is the first State in the country to enact the Special Courts Act towards achieving its goal to check corruption.”

Gracing the occasion, Vigilance department director KB Singh said the increased transparency, competition, and leveraging of technology leads to decline in corruption. “Let us join together and work untiringly for eradication of corruption in all spheres of the life and provide transparent and efficient administration,” Singh added.

Among others, Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Kumar Patsani, Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra, CVOs of different departments and retired senior officers were present.