Thiruvananthapuram: Activist Aruna Roy has disagreed with the state government stand against the entry of women at Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. She has also urged the government to introduce an accountability law on the lines of the one mooted in Rajasthan. Aruna called on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Tuesday and stressed the need for an accountability law which would ensure the right to hearing, grievance redressal and timely service delivery.
“The chief minister offered to look into our suggestion and we hope for some positive steps,” said Aruna. Earlier, speaking at a seminar on corruption organised by the Kerala Chapter of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, Aruna said that unfortunately the present government was also following the previous government's stand against entry of women at Sabarimala. “It is against the spirit of equality. While ensuring equality, certain traditions will have to be questioned. To ensure equality, women should not be prevented from entering a temple,” she said.
VIGILANCE, AN ‘ANT’ AGAINST CORRUPTION
Former state police chief Jacob Punnoose said at the seminar that the present vigilance mechanism was ill- equipped to fight against corruption. He suggested that internal vigilance of all departments should be strengthened by appointing persons from other departments and giving them independent powers.
“The present Vigilance is just an ant to take on corruption which is like an elephant. While the Thampanoor police here registers 3,500 cases annually, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau registers just 15 corruption cases across the state during the same period,” he said lamenting the lack of manpower in the VACB.
Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand said that the Governor's address after the LDF government came to power emphasised various measures that could eliminate corruption, which included social auditing. Chief Information Commissioner Vinson M. Paul said that many officials were trying to scuttle the spirit of RTI Act by denying even genuine information citing flimsy reasons.
