Mahendranagar, January 7:

There is rampant corruption in the Department of Land Survey in Kanchanpur. Kripa Ram Pant, 74, of Banskheda in Kanchanpur has been visiting the office for four months. His, file, however, is yet to move.

“Though it does not take more than a day to get a new land ownership certificate after fixing the boundary of the land, the office has done nothing for the last four months,” Pant said. “Staffers in this office are not addressing my problem. Nowadays, they are saying that the file related to my work has got lost.” Hariram Chaudhari of Baisebichawa VDC in Kanchanpur said staffers of the department are not doing his work. They keep telling him to come next week each time he visits the office.

However, the staffers spring into action and perform any task that would consume 15 days within 15 minutes if they are given hefty bribes, he charged. Chief of the department of survey in Kanchanpur, Padam Bahadur Mahattara, admitted that there have been incidents of bribe-taking in the department. “Some of the staffers are actively involved in taking bribes. This has been conveyed to the central office,” he said. But he said affluent people are responsible for making the staffers seek bribes, Mahattara said: “Lack of sufficient manpower and the pressure of work are creating problems in the office. There are only five surveyors in the office.

Kanchanpur CDO Netra Prasad Sharma said he would go for an inspection of the Land Survey Department.