The special drive was conducted in coordination with vigilance teams of departments concerned.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today carried out joint surprise checks at 150 places across the country with the vigilance teams of the central government departments, Union Territories and public sectors undertakings, officials said.

The exercise is aimed at taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message of ease of living, sources said.

Officials said the checks were conducted in Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Guwahati, Srinagar, Shillong, Chandigarh, Shimla, Chennai, Madurai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Gandhinagar, Goa, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Nagpur, Patna, Ranchi, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Dehradun.

The CBI officials refused to comment if it was a first such exercise in Srinagar since August 5 when the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370.

The special drive was conducted in coordination with vigilance teams of departments concerned primarily at such points where common citizens or small businessmen feel the maximum pinch of corruption in the government machinery, the officials said.

They said the drive will sensitise all stakeholders about possible avenues of corruption and difficulties common citizens face while seeking services from such departments.

The drive covers only central government departments and central PSUs and public sector banks besides Union Territories as the agency does not have mandate in state governments unless a notification is issued by the government concerned or an order of a high court or the Supreme Court.

The departments covered during the surprise checks include the railways, coal mines, coalfields, medical and health care organisations, customs and FCI.

Other departments were power, municipal corporations, ESIC, transport, CPWD, directorate of estates, fire services, sub registrar office, GST, ports, national highways, DAVP, Airport Authority of India, public sector oil companies, DGFT, public sector banks, ASI, shipping corporation, BSNL, steel PSU, mines and minerals.