‘Drive against bribe’ takes on Goa

Panjim: Consumer forums in Goa campaigned under the banner of 'drive against bribe' to spread information on Right to Information Act on Friday.

GOA CAN (Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network), the organization heading the campaign has already covered Mapsa, Mazgaon, Vasco and Panjim till date and plans to conduct seven more such awareness camps in the rest of Goa.

Volunteers stood at Panjim's central bus stand with anti corruption and pro RTI banners in their hands stopping by-passers to tell them about the RTI act.

"GOACAN is doing an excellent job by informing people about the Right to information act. I did not know about the existence of this act until I came across their campaign. We can use our rights and make Goa a corruption free state," said student Stacy Fernandes.

While youths took major interest in the act, most of them agreed they had little or no information about its existence till date.

"Initially we knew only about consumer rights. Today we have been made aware about the RTI act. We can certainly make good use of it in curbing out the corruption that is rampant in the state," said student Gauri Mishal.

Roland Martins, co-ordinator of GOACAN said the organisation would continue to carry similar campaigns in rest of the cities in Goa in the near future.

"We are getting a mixed response. Sometimes people don't trust us thinking we will take money, so we have to push the form on to them. Despite all these things, we have had a good hit rate. People actually stop and want to know more about the act so it’s fairly a mixed response the information is going out. They are taking the paper and going," said Ronald.

While the campaign was started on an experimental basis, looking at its success rate, the organisation plans to take it to on a higher scale now.