Surprise raids were carried out by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on 71 government offices across the State on Wednesday, with several instances of irregularities being unearthed, including one instance of unaccounted cash being seized from certain outlets of the State Beverages Corporation.
According to an official statement from the VACB, the raids were carried out from 2.30 p.m. as per instructions from VACB Director N. Shanker Reddy, with the entire episode being codenamed ‘Operation Khichdi’. Several complaints from the public on corruption in the day-to-day functioning of various government offices had prompted the raids.
The offices that were raided included different offices of the Kerala Water Authority, Sub-Registrar offices, Sub-Regional Transport Offices, offices of assistant drug controllers, commercial tax offices, KSEB offices, Beverages and also Public Works Department units.
While unaccounted cash was seized from a few Beverages outlet, with the cash being stuffed in paper tubes hidden under liquor boxes, irregularities and malpractices were detected in road construction activities by the PWD, apart from evidences of inordinate and unexplained delays in issuance of various certificates from Sub-Registrar offices and also in approving new water connections by the KWA. Several instances of action, including revenue recovery not being initiated despite water bill arrears running into crores were also unearthed, the press release said.
