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Rahul pushes for passage of whistleblower, grievance redressal bills

Posted on February 04, 2014 from Delhi ι Report #251

New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said all efforts would be made to pass the whistleblowers' protection and the citizen's grievance redressal bills in the upcoming parliament session.

Gandhi met members of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) and asserted the Congress-led government would make all efforts to ensure that both the bills are passed in the parliament session starting Wednesday, which will be the last parliamentary session of the United Progressive Alliance-II government .

He said passing the bill in parliament was a priority of the Congress, but it was the opposition that created hurdles in the way of the clearance of the bill.

The bills will lapse if not passed during the parliamentary session, Anjali Bhardwaj of the NCPRI told the media after the meeting.

An NCPRI delegation requested Gandhi for setting up of grievance redress authorities in every district of the country so citizens could easily lodge complaints.

"We have met the opposition leaders and they have assured that both the bills will be passed in the upcoming parliamentary session", said Bhardwaj.

"If the bills do not get passed, the parliamentarians should come up with an ordinance to ensure these are discussed when the parliament reconvenes after the elections," she added.

Bhardwaj said till now more than 40 people in the country were killed while trying to expose corruption while nothing concrete was done to protect such people.

The delegation also discussed some amendments to be incorporated in both the bills.

"It must be ensured protection against victimisation is provided to any person, who makes a complaint or renders assistance in the probe, relating to any matter under the jurisdiction of law," said Bhardwaj.