'Amma Hazares' join the cause

GURGAON: Giving 'chai pani' to policemen bothers Surita Banerjee, a resident of Sector 31 and a social activist in the making who recently returned from US. The first time a cop asked her for 'chai pani' , she actually ended up offering him a cup of tea. This was when she had to get her daughter's passport renewed.

Supporting Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption on the streets, Surita recalled, "Gradually, I had to come to terms with their version of 'chai pani' each time I had to get some documents renewed or get a driving licence or even get my driver and domestic help verified."

There are many such 'Amma Hazares' like Surita on Gurgaon's streets, who account for almost half the people joining the movement.

"These policemen are so poorly paid that they confess that this is their only source of some extra income. I feel bad as they have severe working conditions," says Banerjee, who was a part of a candle-light protest march held at Sector 31 on Friday evening.

Radhika Sethi, a resident of World Spa, who works with a city-based NGO, said she had come to join the protest to be a part of history in the making. "It is easy to sit in an air-conditioned room and watch it on TV. My NGO is into building facilities for schools and we deal with the municipality regularly and know how bad the situation is.

However, you need to shed your hypocrisy and only then expect a change in the system . It is easy to pull out Rs 100 from your pocket and give it to a traffic cop to let you off for a traffic violation and then turn around to call him corrupt," she said.
According to Kitty Singh, another resident of Sector 31 and a freelance writer, everything looks like a scam - whether big or small. "And it's all paid from the taxpayers' hard-earned money."

Earlier in the day, around 1,000 executives from IT and ITeS industries, including hundreds of women, gathered at the Infinity Tower in Cyber City and took out a march supporting Anna. Many of the professionals took time out from their lunch breaks to express their solidarity with Anna.