Our campaign aims at good governance: Lok Satta chief

‘Surajya yatra’ enters Chittoor district for two-day campaign

Tirupati: An honest taxpayer, who has every right to get his/her work done in the government offices, is unable to achieve the same without some form of bribe, opines Lok Satta Founder Jayaprakash Narayan.

Addressing the media as a part of the two-day ‘Surajya yatra’ here on Monday, Dr. Narayan said that it was deplorable that a majority of individuals have to go through the process of offering a bribe, willingly or unwillingly, for getting their work done, be it for getting a power/water connection, land record, survey and several other such requirements.

“The recent Rajasthan ordinance, which makes disclosing the names of government officials facing corruption charges as a punishable offence, will undermine the duty of the media and whistle-blowers, not to mention the transparency towards general public. There is an immediate need to offer the citizen services with no strings attached and in a time-bound manner,” he asserted. This along with five other issues – affordable healthcare, quality education, strict punishment for offenders, making agriculture profitable and decentralisation of power to enable local bodies to deal with problems faced by people, would be the focus of the campaign aimed at ‘good governance’ in both Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“We will be interacting with farmers, youngsters, Dalits, poor and middle class families and elucidate on the six main issues besides seeking solution to the problems faced by them, which we hope would be implementable by the government agencies,” he said.

Call to people

Dr. Narayan called upon the people to be a part of Lok Satta in identifying the issues in daily life via www.youthforbetterindia.com and www.citizensforbetterindia.com such as irregularities in quality and quantity of petrol in bunks, adulteration of food and much more.

Later, Dr. Narayan interacted with the hospital management of SVRR Government General Hospital and enquired about the facilities and services at the establishment. He also addressed the students at a private institution and visited a psychiatric rehabilitation centre.

Courtesy: The Hindu