File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi government today introduced 1031 - an easy to remember anti-corruption helpline number - replacing the eight-digit number launched two days back which received a whopping 23,500 calls.
The new helpline number - the first in the country - was announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a press conference.
On Wednesday, Mr Kejriwal had introduced 011-27357169 as the anti-corruption helpline.
The number had logged a total of 23,500 calls between 8 A.M. yesterday and 5 P.M. Mr Kejriwal had promised that an easy-to-remember, four-digit number would be introduced within a couple of days.
"This helpline number makes every citizen of Delhi an anti -corruption inspector and crusader. The idea of the helpline is to instil fear in the hearts of the corrupt. People have to mend their ways or end up in jail," Mr Kejriwal said.
He said that the older helpline number received 11,829 calls between 8 A.M. and 10 P.M. yesterday and today had received 11,352 calls till 5 P.M.
Launching of the helpline is the third major initiative of the AAP government after subsidising power tariffs and ensuring a monthly 20 kilo-litres of free water.
Giving details of the functioning of the helpline, he said that a trap was laid today to catch certain officials of a cooperative society who had allegedly demanded money in the Parliament Street area.
"A staff of an Assistant Registrar in the Co-operative Group Housing Societies has been caught taking a bribe following a complaint to the helpline. However, the assistant registrar fled from the spot. Whenever he is traced, he will be arrested," Mr Kejriwal said.
He said that 16 cases had been identified as "ripe cases" for the laying of traps and carrying out of sting operations.
He said that in 85 cases, the complainants had agreed to carry out sting operations to collect evidence.
Citing another example, he said that a trap laid by anti- corruption bureau yesterday did not yield any result as the "person refused to take money whereas the sting clearly showed him demanding money".
"There has been tremendous publicity of the number and perhaps that is why people are becoming cautious, which is a good sign. However, most of the calls are grievance related and not corruption related.
"I request people to specifically take note of that as the line gets jammed with so many calls," Mr Kejriwal explained.