NAGPUR: Anna Hazare's fast may have ended for now, but his mass movement is inspiring many to take up the cause. On Tuesday, a group of well known Nagpurians launched an NGO to expose and fight corruption in the city.
Whistle Blowers (WB) seeks to "provide a platform to citizens to voice and seek help for redressal of their grievances". Victims of corruption can approach WB at their Shivaji Nagar office or visit their website www.whistleblowersnagpur.com. The NGO will then provide assistance to the complainant assistance to resolve the issue.
BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis, also executive director of Whistle Blowers, said, "I firmly believe that our system is sometimes so bureaucratic that it needs shock therapy. And that shock can only be given by an NGO. Just by saying that we will abstain from corruption is not enough, you have to fight and expose corruption. WB aims to be a pressure group that will facilitate people's work in a corruption-free environment."
Fadnavis said there was no hierarchy in WB and that is why everyone holds the post of an executive director. There are 23 such executive directors who come from various walks of life. The NGO has decided to divide work among its directors according to their specialization and thus speed up the process of resolving conflicts.
Fadnavis, said, "If the complaint is about bad roads and contractors involved in corruption, then we have a prominent RTI activist among us, who can get official data on amount of money spent and repairs done. Similarly, we have businessmen, lawyers, social workers and educationists who can use their expertise to help the complainant seek the truth. Later we will approach the authorities and using lawful methods, pressurize the system to solve the issue."
Ad guru Sanjay Arora, executive director of WB, believes that youths will be the key to the success of the movement in the long term. "We aim to spread awareness about WB among the youths. For this, some of our team members will be going to schools and colleges and holding awareness sessions. Young people must be made to realize that bribing someone is not the right thing to do. It must stop and we need to inculcate this culture among them."
Though many of them had participated actively in the movement headed by India Against Corruption (IAC), they decided to form their own group. Arora justified the move by saying IAC has a "single point agenda of bringing the Jan Lokpal Bill, while WB has a wider approach". He accepted that the idea of launching WB was a result of Anna's movement, and was conceived just two weeks ago.
The NGO has a fair share of BJP members, including heavyweights like Fadnavis, Sandeep Joshi and Pravin Datke. There are also some active members of the BJP's youth wing on board. Fadnavis downplayed the issue by saying that their NGO does not share any political colour or ideology.
"The idea of starting the NGO came about after discussions with friends at the house of businessman Tejinder Singh Renu. It is a coincidence that some of the members work for the same party. We did not discuss the launch of this NGO with any other political party since this is not a political movement. Even I have come here as a citizen and not as a BJP worker," said Fadnavis.
Whistle Blowers (WB) seeks to "provide a platform to citizens to voice and seek help for redressal of their grievances". Victims of corruption can approach WB at their Shivaji Nagar office or visit their website www.whistleblowersnagpur.com. The NGO will then provide assistance to the complainant assistance to resolve the issue.
BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis, also executive director of Whistle Blowers, said, "I firmly believe that our system is sometimes so bureaucratic that it needs shock therapy. And that shock can only be given by an NGO. Just by saying that we will abstain from corruption is not enough, you have to fight and expose corruption. WB aims to be a pressure group that will facilitate people's work in a corruption-free environment."
Fadnavis said there was no hierarchy in WB and that is why everyone holds the post of an executive director. There are 23 such executive directors who come from various walks of life. The NGO has decided to divide work among its directors according to their specialization and thus speed up the process of resolving conflicts.
Fadnavis, said, "If the complaint is about bad roads and contractors involved in corruption, then we have a prominent RTI activist among us, who can get official data on amount of money spent and repairs done. Similarly, we have businessmen, lawyers, social workers and educationists who can use their expertise to help the complainant seek the truth. Later we will approach the authorities and using lawful methods, pressurize the system to solve the issue."
Ad guru Sanjay Arora, executive director of WB, believes that youths will be the key to the success of the movement in the long term. "We aim to spread awareness about WB among the youths. For this, some of our team members will be going to schools and colleges and holding awareness sessions. Young people must be made to realize that bribing someone is not the right thing to do. It must stop and we need to inculcate this culture among them."
Though many of them had participated actively in the movement headed by India Against Corruption (IAC), they decided to form their own group. Arora justified the move by saying IAC has a "single point agenda of bringing the Jan Lokpal Bill, while WB has a wider approach". He accepted that the idea of launching WB was a result of Anna's movement, and was conceived just two weeks ago.
The NGO has a fair share of BJP members, including heavyweights like Fadnavis, Sandeep Joshi and Pravin Datke. There are also some active members of the BJP's youth wing on board. Fadnavis downplayed the issue by saying that their NGO does not share any political colour or ideology.
"The idea of starting the NGO came about after discussions with friends at the house of businessman Tejinder Singh Renu. It is a coincidence that some of the members work for the same party. We did not discuss the launch of this NGO with any other political party since this is not a political movement. Even I have come here as a citizen and not as a BJP worker," said Fadnavis.