Our government has zero tolerance towards corrupt and lax officials, Shrikant Sharma

The Uttar Pradesh government has acted against around 600 corrupt officials in the past two years, forcing 200 of them to retire, official sources said today.

"Our government has zero tolerance towards corrupt and lax officials. In the past two years, action has been taken against such officials. A number of officials have been warned and their promotions have been stalled," senior UP minister Srikant Sharma said.

"UP is the first state in the country that has taken such action. We have set an example and more action is in the offing," he added.

According to official sources, in the past two years, action has been taken against around 600 officials, including 169 from the Power Department, 25 from the Department of Panchayati Raj and 18 from the PWD.

In a major clean-up drive, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had warned that corrupt officials would be forced to take voluntary retirement.

"There is no place for corrupt officials. Action must be taken against such officials by forcing them to take voluntary retirement," an official release quoting him said last month.

His terse warning came after the Union government dismissed 12 senior income tax officers on grounds of corruption and professional misconduct.