9 July,2010

Investigate corruption
The  All Goa Private Bus Owners’ Association has chosen to justify its demand for a fare hike of at least 20 paise per kilometre in a most innovative manner. The bus owners have decided to tell the public exactly how much they pay in bribes to government officials.
Bus Owners’ Association General Secretary Sudip Tamankar told the media that private bus operators in the state today have to pay nearly Rs1 lakh per bus per year as bribes to officers in the Transport Department and the Traffic Police. He said these bribe were shared, and percolate up to the level of Assistant Director of Transport (ADT), apart from reaching the Minister of Transport!
A bribe, he said, has to be paid “at every stage of operation”. ADTs and the Minister, he said, pocket almost 80 per cent of the bribe amounts, while the remaining 20 per cent is shared in the department. He confessed that it is not just the increase in the price of diesel but the high cost of such harassment by transport officials that is forcing private bus operators to put a greater burden on the public in the form of an increase in ticket prices.
Bus operators say that the amount paid as bribes goes up to as much as Rs80,000 for a fresh bus permit. They gave a virtual ‘price list’ of graft by the department: While the official fee for registration of a new bus is Rs2,000, bus operators have to pay Rs5,000. The fee for renewal of a permit is Rs300, but they pay Rs5,000. Transfer of permit (Fee: Rs300) costs Rs7,000. Issuing of the time schedule (officially, no charge) costs Rs5,000. And so on and so forth…
The amounts are well documented. Mr Tamankar actually gave names of officers who demanded huge bribes to pass on to the minister, non-payment of which has led to denial of a stage carriage permit for his bus. He said bus owners had not exposed this earlier, because the association’s previous leaders decided to tolerate the corruption in the interest of getting their work done. The present committee has decided that enough is enough, he said.
Much as we may dislike them for the way they run their buses, the bus owners must be congratulated for taking a huge risk to bring this corruption out in the open. It takes immense courage to do that when one’s livelihood itself is at stake, and it is the government’s duty to give them the protection accorded to whistleblowers by law.
In response to the allegations, Transport Director Arun Desai apparently said that they should go to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) or the Vigilance Department with their complaints against corruption. What is the point in going to the media with such complaints, he asked. It must be noted here that not a single allegation of corruption has been made against Mr Desai, though several appear to have been levelled against his boss, the Minister of Transport. Technically, Mr Desai is right. He is telling the bus owners to go by the rules. But the point is, if things in the department went by the rules, the bus owners would not have to pay any bribes at all in the first place. It is because no rules are followed in the department, and the only criterion for getting anything done is cash, that this whole issue has blown up. In such circumstances, it is perfectly understandable that whistleblowers want the protection that comes from media exposure.
It is now for Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to institute an inquiry into these charges and put an end to the corruption in the Transport Department. Surely he does not want his government to get a reputation for supporting corrupt ministers and officials?