"Team Anna to go to villages for expand volunteer base"
CHENNAI: Team Anna Hazare in Chennai plans to expand its volunteer base across the state. Coordinators and volunteers of India Against Corruption (IAC) discussed their plans at a meeting in Kodambakkam on Sunday.
About 25,000 volunteers registered during the 12-day agitation against corruption held at Adyar in Chennai two weeks ago. IAC discussed ways to harness the enthusiasm of these people. Ten people who participated in the indefinite fast against corruption participated in the meeting on Sunday.
"We plan to involve people in the organisation's work in a constructive manner. That's why we met to take stock and make plans," said IAC coordinator Bhavana Upadhyaya. IAC has built a strong network with several non-governmental organisations to work against corruption, Upadhyaya said.
Nine IAC members visited several villages in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram district last week to increase their volunteer base. "We are focusing on rural areas since people there suffer the effects of corruption. We are going to start IAC units in each taluk across the state," said Upadhyaya.
IAC also plans to have several divisions such as a student wing, youth wing and senior citizens wing. "We will set up a communication wing and planning wing for further progress," she said. They have not yet made a decision on contesting the forthcoming local body elections.
"In most rural areas we go to, people want to work against corruption in their local government offices. It is boosting our work," said a volunteer.
On Friday, students in Ambattur municipality protested against the corrupt tahsildar who was not providing community certificates. "The protest was led by our volunteers against officers who asked for bribes. Now the district administration has ordered immediate distribution of certificates," another volunteer said.
IAC has joined hands with Nallor Vattam, a Kodambakkam-based organization, to conduct a state-wide rally against corruption next month.
IAC trains spotlight on city’s bad roads
India Against Corruption (IAC), the organisation that rallied support for social activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign, has now trained its guns on the civic body to detect the corrupt practices that are responsible for the pathetic condition of city roads. Hindustan Times has
been reporting about the poor state of the city’s roads since July 20.
According to IAC’s plan, volunteers have identified around 30 worst-affected roads in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction with the help of volunteers situated in those particular areas. IAC said it has 13 lakh volunteers in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. Around 12 teams are deployed in each of these zones.
“We will file Right To Information applications in the concerned wards and under the vigilance department to find out details such as the name of the road contractor, size of the road, budget sanctioned, quality of material used and warranty period of roads,” said Mayank Gandhi, IAC’s Mumbai coordinator.
Samples of bad roads will be tested in two government-authorised laboratories. “The results will be compared with the specifications in the contract,” said Gandhi. If the reports are negative, concerned ward officers, corporators and other civic officials will be made to own up for the condition of the roads in a public meeting that will be held on the same road.