109 preliminary enquiries were pending in 2017 but till August 20 this year, 46 are pending.
In the past week, Assam has seen at least five arrests of government employees who were caught red-handed while accepting bribes inside government offices by Assam's vigilance and anti-corruption directorate sleuths who have started a campaign to weed out corruption from government offices. 44 government employees have been arrested in the past 15 months.
The number of corruption cases where the vigilance and anti-corruption directorate has submitted charge sheets has gone up by six times in the last five years. While in 2018 only six cases were charge-sheeted, this year till August 20, 36 cases have already been charge-sheeted according to vigilance and anti-corruption directorate data available with NDTV.
On August 26, Assam's Special Director General of Police GP Singh tweeted, "Another one for the day. Sri Ranjan Goswami @ Chanchal, Lat Mondal Karimganj Sadar Circle has been trapped and arrested red handed today by team of @DIR_VAC_ASSAM while accepting demanded money for mutation of land of the complainant. @assampolice @CMOfficeAssam"
On the same day, he had earlier tweeted, "Sri Azharul Islam District Programme Officer, Sarva Siksha Abhijan Mission, Dhubri has been trapped and arrested red handed today by team of @DIR_VAC_ASSAM while accepting demanded money for releasing outstanding salary of the complainant. @assampolice @CMOfficeAssam"
While in 2017 only nine corruption cases were registered in Assam after traps, this year till August 20, 23 such corruption cases have been registered, government data further reflected.
One reason for Assam vigilance's recent success can also be attributed to the decline in pending preliminary enquiries. While in 2017, 109 preliminary enquiries were pending, till August 20 this year, 46 such enquiries are pending.
Earlier this month, a trap arrest of Assam vigilance went viral on social media when on August 3 a forest officer in Assam was allegedly caught by vigilance officers accepting a Rs 20,000 bribe and ran out with the money but was eventually arrested nearly a kilometre away. Police said that the range officer named Debabrata Gogoi posted in Jirighat under Cachar Forest Division was arrested under the Assam police's drive against corruption in government offices.