About 21,000 complaints of alleged corruption have been received by the Central Vigilance Commission against government officials between January and September this year, according to an official data released today.
A total of 20,943 complaints of corruption by government officials were received in the first nine months, it said.
Of these, 17,420 complaints were disposed by the commission and only 96 of them were sent for investigation to the Chief Vigilance Officers -- who act as a distant arm of the CVC -- and to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The CVC had received 51,207 and 32,149 complaints during 2016 and 2015, respectively. It had got 64,410 such complaints in 2014 and 35,332 in 2013, it said.
The probity watchdog has taken action against 19,557 employees of various government departments for their alleged involvement in corruption, according to the data released by Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary.
Addressing a press conference called to brief on the Vigilance Awareness Week from October 30 to November 4, Chowdary said the central government organisation would conduct various outreach activities across the country to make people aware about the ill-effects of corruption.
"The idea is to reach out to as many people as possible and to inform them about grave problems posed by corruption," he said.
The observance of Vigilance Awareness Week, on the theme 'My Vision - Corruption Free India', will also help the officials of a government department to get direct feedback from public on their working and any problems which might have been faced by them, Chowdary said.
In 2016, 70,000 gram sabhas were organised and awareness campaigns were conducted in more than 500 towns across the country.
"We plan to reach the same or more such numbers this year," he said.
A new feature is the establishment of 'Integrity Clubs' in schools and colleges as children are the future assets of the country and it is important to cultivate moral values in them, he said.
The observance of the Vigilance Awareness Week would commence with the integrity pledge by public servants in the central government departments.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will be the chief guest at the inaugural function of the Vigilance Awareness Week on October 30.
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