Udupi: Awareness only way to tackle corruption - Hegde

Bellevision media network

• ‘Parties are no longer interested in inquiring about scams’

Udupi, 08 January 2011: Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde said on Saturday that public awareness was the only way to tackle corruption. He was presiding over an anti-corruption meet organised by the Janajagriti Vedike Okkoota here.

 

 

Mr. Hegde said that the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said in 1985 that of the one rupee which government spent on welfare measures, only 15 paise reached the beneficiaries. But far lesser amount might be reaching the beneficiaries now.

 

According to a report, of the eight centrally-sponsored schemes implemented in 2007-08, there was no account for Rs. 51,000 crore. There were scams at the Centre and State levels. Political parties were no longer interested in inquiring about scams. Instead, they wasted time on what type of inquiry should be launched and by whom.

 

Politicians kept disrupting the Lok Sabha and Assembly sessions on this pretext. The people wanted a proper inquiry to be launched and the guilty punished, he said.

 

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report blew the lid off the Rs. 1.76-lakh crore 2G spectrum scam. But the statement of Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal that there was no loss at all on allocation of 2G spectrum to telecom operators was stunning, the Lokayukta said.

 

He said that corruption could take place only when there was collusion between politicians and officials. Corruption was not confined to the public sector alone, it was in private sector as well.

 

Society should make a distinction between legally earned wealth and illegally made money. It should support only those who made their wealth in a legal manner, Mr. Hegde said.

 

Director of Pre-University Education Board Chakravarti Mohan, psychologist Sridhar, honorary president of the vedike M. Krishna Adiga were present.

 

Balachandra Shetty welcomed the gathering. Vijaynath Hegde delivered the introductory remarks. Sudhakar Shetty proposed a vote of thanks.