PANAJI
As the world will mark International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, Goa’s struggle with corruption continues unabated.
Over the past eight years, not less than 200 government officials have been booked on various corruption charges. That’s an average of 25 per year “ indicating betrayal of public trust despite the government’s repeated slogan of “zero tolerance to corruption.”
From jobs-for-cash scams that preyed on hundreds of families’ life savings to land grab conspiracies executed with chilling precision, corruption has infected almost every government department.
The latest case by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI reveals the depths of this decay: Atul Wani, an officer in the Zonal Accounts Office, was caught red-handed on charges of allegedly accepting a bribe to clear pending bills. The probe further revealed that Pankaj Kumar of the Income Tax Department’s Accounts Office reportedly demanded a Rs 2 lakh bribe to process these bills and that’s how Wani too came into the picture.
This is just one among many, adding to a growing list that also includes State departments police, IT, Education, Public Works, Panchayats and other government machinery.
Noted advocate Cleofato Coutinho criticized the pervasive corruption in the system, alleging it has peaked. “Corruption has reached an all-time high. Just because some are booked, it doesn’t mean the authorities or government are genuinely fighting corruption.”
He cited the notorious jobs-for-cash scam, which shattered the dreams of nearly 100 job aspirants, and the brazen land grab cases implicating quite a few government officials in collusion with fraudsters.
“Why did so many people pay bribes? It’s because the system enabled it. Some managed to secure jobs, which served as incentives for those involved in the fraud. The entire system is corrupt. Corruption existed earlier but at a lower scale. Now, it’s all-encompassing,” Coutinho alleged.
Despite arrests and FIRs, accountability remains elusive. Over the past eight years, only one official has been convicted while around 14 were acquitted and one case dismissed. Alarmingly, about 20 cases were closed as A Final or C Final reports, raising serious concerns about the effectiveness of investigations into these complaints.
“It seems like the 'B' in BJP stands for Bhrashtachar (corruption). Rampant corruption is evident across Goa, and the root cause is clear, most of the ministers are operators of real estate. The entire politics revolved around the land of Goa,” anti-corruption crusader Swapnesh Sherlekar said.
Another crusader Roland Martins added that the government's track record isn’t entirely effective despite frequent crackdowns. “Systemic accountability is rare, creating a vicious cycle where the corrupt thrive and the victims suffer,” he said.
Martins called for transparency seeking an urgent need for a special portal or website to provide updates on all ongoing anti-corruption cases under investigation and in courts. “This will ensure that the general public remains informed about the current status of these cases,” he suggested.
Ironically, the government had also launched initiatives like anti-corruption sensitization and departmental pledges in the wake of rising cases of corruption particularly after IT Deputy Director Siddhart Borkar was suspended for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a job aspirant for a position with Rs 75,000 monthly salary.
