Our correspondent interviewed Ravi Shrivastava, State Committee Member of Aam Aadmi Party, Maharashtra unit, to know further in detail about the following helpline.
Q1. After calling this anti corruption number, what are the formalities one needs to go through or what is the procedure?
Yes, if a person calls us to complain about corruption then we seek some personal information from him/her. For e.g. from where he is calling from, what are the complaints, what are his contact details? We also ask them about their efforts to solve the issue. After this preliminary enquiry, matter will be passed on to the area coordinator. We have 12 Area Coordinators in six parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai.
Q2. Is there any mechanism to bifurcate the complaints and forward them to concerned desk?
As explained in the above answer, complaint will be forwarded to concerned Area Coordinator, who will speak to complainant and fix up a time with the concerned Authority/official and try to solve the issue.
Q3. How many corrupt officers have been trapped through this initiative?
It’s too early to say. We have launched it just five days ago. We are getting approximately 60 to 70 calls per day. We have forwarded three cases to Area Coordinators, two in south Mumbai and another one in Andheri. Our objective is to help victims so that their work is done. If someone does not want to reveal his identity then we direct the case to ACB. Our teams are in close contact with ACB officials. One can lodge a complaint to ACB on 1064 as an anonymous complainant.
Q4. How many people are trained to fight against corruption and which age group is more attracted towards this cause?
We have trained around 64 people in Mumbai and constitute a team. Each team has 5 to 7 members out of which two are ladies and one experienced activist.
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There are few guidelines which each member has to follow and they are as under:
- a) No abusive, threatening language will be used. Team will approach without slogan shouting and behavior in the office premises will be gentleman like.
- b). No aggressiveness in approach, have to speak politely but firmly. No identity card will be issued, only AAP Caps & Badges.
- c). No arguments, senior member will decide when to close the discussion.
- d). No one will speak to the complainant alone; it will always be in group. All volunteers will abide by Party code of conduct.
Q5. On a wider perspective, what is your next step towards the upgradation of this line and services?
At next level, we intend to include BMC services, SRA issues, Dam scam, Road pothole repair etc.
Q6. Whose brain child is this “helpline” service?
Shri. Arvind Kejriwalji
Q7. What are the major challenges that you face while dealing with such problems?
People are afraid when they are calling us. They don’t want to reveal their identity. Sometimes, they say one of his friends is facing the problem and on behalf of him, I’m calling here. Yes, I would like to clarify that we do not take family disputes, property issues, society problems, police corruption etc.
