Corruption washed out this year: In 118 cases, 134 officials and 17 private individuals arrested

Chandigarh, December 31: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested 134 officials from different departments and 17 private individuals while accepting bribes, in a total of 118 cases this year.

He said, adopting a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of corruption, Bureau has nabbed 12 Gazzeted Officers (GOs) and 122 Non-Gazzetted Officials (NGOs) since January 1 to December 30, this year. “Out of this 25 officers and officials were arrested with bribe money ranging from `50,000 to `2 lakh in 16 trap cases,” he added.

The official said that during the year, apart from other departments, 39 officials of Punjab Police,34 of revenue department, 12 of powercom, 7 of local bodies department, 6 of panchayats and rural development and 5 of irrigation department were nabbed red-handed while taking bribes in separate cases.

A total of 95 vigilance enquires have been registered to probe graft complaints against 50 GOs, 71 NGOs and 55 private persons, he said.

Five disproportionate asset cases have been registered against four GOs and one NGO, added Uppal.