The agitation launched by Gandhian Anna Hazare has virtually prompted everyone to come out openly against the menace of corruption, with support pouring in from various quarters.
TOI found in a study that citizens viewed Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Nagpur as the most corrupt department. RTO was closely followed by the departments like revenue, police and education; and Nagpur Improvement Trust and Nagpur Municipal Corporation. In fact, the list of corrupt government offices in the city is endless, the residents rued.
However, Ulhas alias Babli Meshram, a resident of Bezonbagh, blamed the citizens for rise in corruption in every department. He said if a survey is carried out today, almost 90% population of the city will find that it had paid bribe to various government departments for the services or get their works done. He said that RTO is the most corrupt. 10 more citizens agreed with Meshram and pointed out that one has to pay bribe even for doing small works like changing residential address, they said.
Dr Ashok Lanjewar, president of Jan Manch, a city based NGO, said that giving bribe was highly prevalent to get clearance from the tehsil and sub-registrars' offices for construction works and obtain the data related to land records.
According to high court lawyer Anand Parchure, education department tops the corruption chart. Supporting his claim, Parchure said that almost 50% litigations filed in the high court are related to the education department.
Nagpur police department is also amongst the most corrupt. Manoj Purandare, a resident of north Nagpur, claimed that even routine works like lodging a first information report or reporting thefts cannot be done without paying bribe to the cops.
Many citizens said that they also have to shell out money for getting basic municipal services, public distribution system and public healthcare.
Residents rated NIT among the corrupt civic body in the city. No file moves from one desk to another and no building maps are sanctioned without bribing, said Jayant Waghmare.
Mohit Ugemuge, a final year engineering student and a resident of Hudkeshwar, wondered why Nagpurians have to grease the palms of NMC officials even for getting potable water.
Citizens said that persons accepting the bribe were non-partisan in their attitude. Nitin Kelkar, another post-graduate student, said that the bribe takers hardly differentiate between the economic status of well-to-do families and the slum-dwellers. "The amount of bribe remains the same for all. He also cited the examples of touts outside the government departments like tehsil and RTO where agents have prepared a chart of 'charges' for different works. However, in some cases, they (the corrupt officials or middlemen), charge differently depending on the urgency of clients," said Vinita Kadam.
Citizens were not satisfied with the anti-corruption mechanism. Tushar Meshram, a resident of Indora, pointed out that corruption was on the rise as the mechanism to stop it was very poor.
It was found that fear of harassment and delay in services was the main reasons for payment of bribe. Unavailability of procedural information and difficult application procedure also compel citizens to pay bribe, said Dr Lanjewar. Most residents felt fear of 'denial of services' was the strongest reason for corruption.
TOI found in a study that citizens viewed Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Nagpur as the most corrupt department. RTO was closely followed by the departments like revenue, police and education; and Nagpur Improvement Trust and Nagpur Municipal Corporation. In fact, the list of corrupt government offices in the city is endless, the residents rued.
However, Ulhas alias Babli Meshram, a resident of Bezonbagh, blamed the citizens for rise in corruption in every department. He said if a survey is carried out today, almost 90% population of the city will find that it had paid bribe to various government departments for the services or get their works done. He said that RTO is the most corrupt. 10 more citizens agreed with Meshram and pointed out that one has to pay bribe even for doing small works like changing residential address, they said.
Dr Ashok Lanjewar, president of Jan Manch, a city based NGO, said that giving bribe was highly prevalent to get clearance from the tehsil and sub-registrars' offices for construction works and obtain the data related to land records.
According to high court lawyer Anand Parchure, education department tops the corruption chart. Supporting his claim, Parchure said that almost 50% litigations filed in the high court are related to the education department.
Nagpur police department is also amongst the most corrupt. Manoj Purandare, a resident of north Nagpur, claimed that even routine works like lodging a first information report or reporting thefts cannot be done without paying bribe to the cops.
Many citizens said that they also have to shell out money for getting basic municipal services, public distribution system and public healthcare.
Residents rated NIT among the corrupt civic body in the city. No file moves from one desk to another and no building maps are sanctioned without bribing, said Jayant Waghmare.
Mohit Ugemuge, a final year engineering student and a resident of Hudkeshwar, wondered why Nagpurians have to grease the palms of NMC officials even for getting potable water.
Citizens said that persons accepting the bribe were non-partisan in their attitude. Nitin Kelkar, another post-graduate student, said that the bribe takers hardly differentiate between the economic status of well-to-do families and the slum-dwellers. "The amount of bribe remains the same for all. He also cited the examples of touts outside the government departments like tehsil and RTO where agents have prepared a chart of 'charges' for different works. However, in some cases, they (the corrupt officials or middlemen), charge differently depending on the urgency of clients," said Vinita Kadam.
Citizens were not satisfied with the anti-corruption mechanism. Tushar Meshram, a resident of Indora, pointed out that corruption was on the rise as the mechanism to stop it was very poor.
It was found that fear of harassment and delay in services was the main reasons for payment of bribe. Unavailability of procedural information and difficult application procedure also compel citizens to pay bribe, said Dr Lanjewar. Most residents felt fear of 'denial of services' was the strongest reason for corruption.
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