Ending political graft must for honest bureaucracy

Musheerabad: It is impossible to contain bureaucratic corruption without ending political corruption, opined experts at a round table conference held here at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram in Baghlingampally on Thursday on the topic, "Issues in Implementing Reforms in Revenue Administration – Suggestions."

Former member of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) T Vivek, a noted political analyst Prof K Nageshwar, founder president of Telangana Revenue Employees' Association Matam Shivshankar, Sunil Kumar, assistant professor at Nalsar University, and others participated in the conference.

T Vivek said that the government employees would face problems if they do not change the existing work culture. As long as changes are not brought in the existing system, politicians would continue to dominate employees, he said. However, the animosity between employees and government will not be in the interests of governments, he added.

Prof K Nageshwar said that revenue employees should have convened a meeting before the CM K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) alleged corruption in the department. He also opined that the revenue employees should rethink on their work culture and reform themselves before anyone point fingers at them.

There is a need to train employees on the importance of personal honesty and integrity, he said. He said it would be difficult to contain corruption in bureaucracy without curbing political corruption.

If there is corruption in revenue department, it implies that the KCR's government is also corrupt, as it is responsible for curbing corruption. Blaming employees alone for the corruption is not a good sign as political leadership is equally responsible for the situation.

Nageshwar advised KCR to end political corruption first to end corruption in various government departments. Use of technology could be a solution for employees to end corruption, as everybody knows the source of corruption, he said. The officials who are experienced in the consultative process should be involved in the formulation of the new revenue act, he said.

Revenue employee union leader Shiv Shankar welcomed the government's initiative to reform the revenue department, but urged the government to consult revenue employees before taking any decision in this regard.

He urged the CM not to portray revenue employees as corrupt, as most of the employees are sincere and have been working sincerely in implementing various welfare schemes of the government. Citing KCR's praise of revenue employees for their efforts to rectify the revenue records, he said that revenue employees have always worked tirelessly for the public welfare.