RTI activist ends hunger strike after assurance from Goa CM

Following an assurance from Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over the appointments of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) as well as State Information Commissioner (SIC), noted RTI activist Rajan Ghate today ended his indefinite hunger strike he had launched six days back.
Ghate had been on an indefinite hunger strike at the historic Azad Maidan demanding immediate appointment of CIC and SIC, the posts which have been lying vacant since over a year now.
Parrikar assured the agitating RTI activist that the sub-committee of the state government would meet on July 29 to finalise the names for the posts.
He also told Ghate that the names of the candidates who are shortlisted, would be uploaded on the website along with their bio-data by tomorrow.

Goa RTI Forum, a body of RTI activists, had intervened in the matter as even after five days of hunger strike, the state government did not respond to Ghate's demand.
Calling himself the "biggest supporter of RTI", Parrikar told the gathering that though there were some defects in the Act, it did not make the entire Act bad.

He alleged that some people misuse RTI for their own gains.
"We give morphine injection to cancer patients, but some people use it as drugs. But that does not mean morphine should be banned," he said adding that only partial information received under RTI is leaked to the media giving the inputs a different dimension.

Ghate has been a prominent figure in the state who had exposed the violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) by foreigners in buying lands. Following his agitation, the Centre had issued notices to 400 properties in Goa purchased by foreigners.