UP IAS drive against graft in doldrums

LUCKNOW, December 11: Members of the Uttar Pradesh IAS Officers Association would vote secretly on December 14 to identify "corrupt" officials, secretary of the association S R Lakha said here on Wednesday as he urged members to participate and "drive the last nail into the coffin of corruption".

Earlier, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had dealt a blow to the proponents of the secret ballot move when he said the Government would not take action against officials identified through the exercise unless the identification was backed with concrete evidence. This had led to doubts over the efficacy of such an exercise, particularly, when it had also been opposed by some senior IAS officials. In fact, the former chairperson of NOIDA, Neera Yadav, had even resigned from the association in protest.

Yet, a delegation of the association met the CM on Wednesday and in what can be termed a face-saving formula, urged him to take action against the "corrupt" officials identified through the secret ballot. "We apprised the Chief Minister of the motive behind holding such an exercise and he gave a patient hearing. The CM assured us that action would be taken against identified officials and also desired that the association should make evidence against these officials available to the Government," Lakha said.