Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Cell seeks more branches in Assam

FIGHTING CORRUPTION

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 21: Rising corruption in the State has prompted the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (V&AC) Cell of the Assam Police to rush to Dispur with the proposal of setting up five of its branches in the State – one each at Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Bongaigaon, Nagaon, and Silchar.

At present, the V&AC Cell in the State has its headquarters in Guwahati without any branch anywhere in the State. Taking the rising corruption in the State into its account, the Cell feels that tackling corruption without any branch anywhere in the State is quite a tough task. The lack of any branch of the Cell anywhere in the State proves to be costly for people who want to lodge complaints with the Cell. It is too costly for a person from Dibrugarh, Tezpur, and Silchar for instance to come to Guwahati just to lodge a complaint with the V&AC Cell. This is one of the reasons why many corruption cases go unreported in the State.

Of late, Dispur is cracking down on corrupt people as and when corruption is brought to its notice. However, since there are no branches of the V&AC Cell elsewhere in the State other than the head office in Guwahati, much cannot be done to check the menace.

According to statistics available with this reporter, as many as 80 cases were taken up by the V&AC Cell from 2014 to July 13, 2018 and disposed 55 of them, besides arresting 64 people. The Cell made 10 arrests in 2015, 18 in 2016, 22 in 2017 and 14 till July 13 in 2018. Likewise, the Cell took 14 cases in 2015, 23 cases in 2016, 28 cases in 2017 and 15 cases till July 13, 2018.

The Cell mooted the setting up of its five branches in 2017. However, Dispur is to decide anything towards that end.