Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Feb 19: “Making voting in the general elections mandatory, and giving the voters a right to call back inefficient representatives, will long way in bringing back vibrancy in the democratic system,” felt state Lokayukta, Justice N Santosh Hegde. He was delivering the special lecture at a function organized in the city on the occasion of the  87th Founders Day of Karnataka Bank Ltd.

“There is no need to get disheartened at the fact that the ardent aspiration with which our leaders modelled our country into a democratic republic, have lost their ground. Everyone should exercise their rights to vote. If there is high rate of voting, changes are bound to happen, and the clout of money in elections will cease. We should patiently wait for these changes to occur,” he said.  He noted that a person fights elections to serve the people, and not to make money. He added that the candidates, who squander crores of rupees in elections, can instead, set this fund aside, and use the same for the welfare of the people after the elections.

He felt that not allowing parliament to function because of 2G scam was not right. “People want to know the truth, not the type of committee that goes into it. Irrespective of which committee probes this scam, at the end, police complaint needs to be filed. By the time the report is submitted by the committees, the government in power either throws it into the dustbin, or files ‘B’ report. That is the end of every scam,” he observed.

He said that the state government handed over mining scam to the Lokayukta, to ensure that the Central Bureau of Investigation does not take up this work. He lamented the fact that even after six decades of getting independence, a number of villages in north Karnataka are craving for water. He said that nabbing the corrupt forms only ten percent of Lokayukta work, as it also has the work of ensuring good governance and assisting the people.

He asserted that the foremost duty of a human is to be human, vibe to the problems of others, and be sincere to the work he does.

Bank chairman, Anantakrishna, presided. General manager, H S Shivaswamy Aital, proposed vote of thanks. Later, a musical programme was presented by Padma Shri Sudha Raghunathan from Chennai.