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CHENNAI: Nearly two-thirds of respondents of a survey conducted by Transparency International (TI) said they paid bribes to get their work done in government offices in Tamil Nadu .

According to the survey, carried out in October and November this year, 62% said they paid bribes to officials to get work done, compared to 52% last year. This is higher than the latest national average of one out of two people who paid bribe for government services.

While citizens reported higher instances of corruption in Rajasthan, Bihar, UP, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Punjab, such corruption was less in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and Odisha.

Property and land matters continued to top in bribery in Tamil Nadu, accounting for 41% of the bribes paid, despite most land and building registration processes going online. Municipal corporation work came second, accounting for 19% of bribes paid, followed by police and others. “The survey was conducted at the state level, and more than 5,700 responses were received from TN. Nearly 62% citizens who participated in the survey admitted to paying a bribe to get their work done. Of this, 35% gave bribes several times (directly or indirectly), while 27% paid bribes once or twice (directly or indirectly),” said the TI report.

“We conducted voting for the survey in Tamil Nadu between October 1 and November 15. Many people who participated in the voting said at least once they paid bribe in the registration department,” said Local Circles coordinator in Tamil Nadu Akshay Gupta. Local Circles conducted the survey on behalf of Transparency International.

More than 15%, who were surveyed, said they paid money at least once to police. Many people said instead of paying a fine for not wearing a helmet or jumping a signal, they greased the hands of the traffic policeman which was much less than the fine and escaped. But those who had cases in police stations, they had to pay much more to escape from the case.

Similarly with electricity board, the survey found that respondents had to pay some money for the Tangedco worker repairing a transformer or power cable to restore power supply.

