Resource adequacy plan works afoot for steady power supply

Activists say lack of public outcry, opaque functioning reasons for under-reporting of rampant corruption in prisons in the state

- Dharth Prabhakar @Chennai

The state government's anti-corruption agency, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), has registered 2,400 cases against government officials since 2016, but only three of them are against employees of the prisons department, official data shows.

The latest case in the prisons department was registered last week against a jail superintendent, former jailor and an administrative officer of Madurai central prison after a nudge by the Madras HC. The other two cases were in 2018 - against an official of Salem prison and Puzhal prison.

DVAC's own statistics published on its websites erroneously show an even worse figure, indicating it has registered only one inquiry against a prison official in the last eight years.

This comes at a time when complaints of corruption in prisons are being raised regularly; in 2020, a DIG reportedly sent a circular to all heads of jails with a list of corrupt practices, warning them of action. In comparison, the DVAC has probed at least 350 police personnel for corruption since 2016 while the number is several times higher in rural development, revenue and registration departments.