Mumbai, Aug 1 (ANI): Terming the government's version of the Lokpal Bill weak, social activist Medha Patkar has called for concerted efforts to eradicate corruption.
Addressing a news conference here on Sunday, Patkar said that it must work towards the welfare of the common man and not those who are in power.
"We have supported Jan Lokpal (Ombudsman). We are also going to hear Aruna Roy and her colleagues tomorrow in Delhi, because we are open and we feel that if we want the appropriate or strong act, we should be open to discuss the various drafts and I think that is what Arvind Kejriwal and Aruna Roy are also jointly saying now. So, we want all the people to really look into all the drafts," said Medha Patkar, social activist," she added.
Patkar also said that the office of the Prime Minister and higher judiciary should come under the ambit of the Ombudsman bill.
"Slums and other rural communities want to take up this matter and are fighting against corruption and exposing, probably bottom up. Even Adarsh and Lavasa were exposed. We are sure that the government Lokpal will not be able to expose those scams, because the lawmakers are also going to be left out and the judiciary also, we have always been saying it is not a holy cow and judiciary should also be brought under the Lokpal bill," added Patkar.
Meanwhile, veteran social activist Anna Hazare unhappy with the government's version of the draft bill reiterated that if the government does not make amendments to the bill, then he would begin his indefinite hunger strike from August 16.
Earlier, Hazare had proposed a referendum on the bill but the government rejected the proposal.
The final meeting between the government and civil society representatives on the drafting of the bill had ended on June 22.
The Lokpal Bill is an anti-graft bill and seen as a weapon to root out corruption from the government machinery. (ANI)
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