New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal virtually turned every Delhiite into an anti-corruption inspector with the launch of his much awaited helpline on Wednesday. He urged citizens to join hands with the government against corruption. He asked the victims of corruption to do a sting operation or record the voice of the corrupt official as a proof for anti-corruption department.

“I would like to call every Delhiite to join us in the battle against corruption. With the launch of the helpline number, every citizen will become an anti corruption inspector and they will not be needing any gun or baton, their mobile phone will become their weapon against corruption. Complainants will have to do a sting operation or even record the voice of the culprit and then inform on helpline number 011-27357169 which will be operational every day from 8 am to 10 pm,” he said adding that he will try to get a three or four digit parallel number for this within a week.

Describing the government’s efforts and delay in providing the service, he said the anti-corruption branch of Delhi was in very “poor” condition.

“The plan was got delayed as we had to work on the back end of the bureau. The anti-corruption bureau of Delhi government was heavily understaffed, nobody was posted in the department from years and many other technicalities led to the delay in the plan,” he said.

Kejriwal categorically said that it is a helpline number and not a complain number.
“Anyone just cannot complain about any official, the number will provide government’s assistance. If anyone calls at this number, the call centre will record his name and mobile number and problem, the very next day, an advisor from the anti-corruption department will call the complainant back and suggest him how to collect evidence.

Once the evidence, video or audio, is collected, the advisor will call the complainant and arrange an undercover operation to nab the culprit,” he added.

He also sought help of the Lieutenant Governor for back up if the helpline gets flooded with calls.

“Tough the anti-corruption department has pulled up its socks for action against errant officials, we have also requested the LG for further assistance. The LG has assured that the Delhi Police teams will be ready on standby for any assistance in case we get a number of complains,” he said.

Kejriwal assured that police officials will also fall under the jurisdiction of the anti corruption department and the complainant have to follow the same procedure.

“No one will be spared. If anyone complains against any police official, the same procedure will be followed and the anti-corruption officials will handle the case,” he said.

Safety of whistleblower
Safety of the whistleblower, however, remained a matter of concern. The chief minister assured to provide as much security as possible to the whistle blower, however, limited the government’s responsibility in lack of any strong whistleblower law.

“We will try to provide as much security as we can and whatever available in the system, to the whistle blower, but it still remains a matter of concern as there are no stringent laws for their protection,” he said.

Asked about the provisions of action against touts, Kejriwal said he has appointed former additional commissioner of anti corruption bureau N Dilip Kumar as an advisor for this.