The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : High level of corruption in police and land registration

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Sunday, Aug 17, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

High level of corruption in police and land registration

89 p.c. of respondents in study say they paid bribes to police officials

51 p.c. of those with graduate degrees or above think corruption is “hearsay”
Government official, politician, businessman link blamed for corruption

HYDERABAD: A study of the below poverty line families conducted by the Centre for Media Studies in association with the Transparency International India points out that the level of corruption is alarming in land records and registration while it is high in electricity, housing, water supply and other departments.

The survey covers delivery of 11 basic amenities and was conducted between November 2007 and January this year. Conducted on the basis of household sample as well as discussions with exit interviews at delivery points, the survey reveals interesting details about public perception of corruption in that people using these 11 services paid an estimated Rs. 89 crore as bribe for availing the service.

Rural areas

While over 60 per cent of the respondents from rural areas and 51 per cent of those with graduation or above qualification think corruption is “hearsay” despite extensive media coverage, a sizeable number of 37 per cent, accepted to have first hand knowledge of corrupt practices.

A majority of the respondents blame the government official – politician – businessman link for corruption and 12 per cent of them feel that citizens were equally responsible for the menace. Police and land records and registration departments attracted maximum criticism with 57 per cent of the respondents claiming to have direct experience of paying bribes.

Almost 60 per cent of the respondents felt that the level of corruption increased and grievance redressal mechanism deteriorated in the two departments. While corruption in police had been ‘alarming’ with 89 per cent of the respondents claiming to have paid bribes directly to officials/staff, health services too takes credit in direct payments with an equal number.

Middlemen

Land registration and rural employment guarantee scheme fare better on this count as the middlemen take centre stage in the two schemes with 64 and 71 per cent respectively.

The incidence of corruption increased as the interaction of people with the departments was reasonably higher following the launch of various schemes.

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Andhra Pradesh