Saturday, August 20 2005 18:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today called on party activists to make use of the newly enacted Right to Information Act to monitor Centre-funded development programmes in non-Congress ruled states.

The Right to Information can be used in states which don't have a Congress government to ensure that full and proper use is made of the money sent by the Centre for developmental programmes," Gandhi said in her address to a National Convention organised by Congress Seva Dal here to commemorate the 61st birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. "The Right to Information law has been enacted, as had been promised in our election manifesto in 2004. Through this law, we can pin-point who is responsible for what work," she said in her speech to the Seva Dal activists.

Noting that several of the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the government had been fulfilled, she said while the Hindu Succession Bill giving equal property rights to women was passed recently, the Rural Employment Guarantee Bill will be passed next week and other bills such as the National Disaster Management Bill were in the pipeline.

The CMP is the basis of our present government. And majority of the issues in the CMP are those which were also present in our election manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls. Hence, it is upon us to see that this government is run successfully," Gandhi said.

Gandhi asked the Seva Dal activists to act as a bridge between the government and the people so as not to give political opponents an opportunity to spread false propaganda. "It should be the responsibility of every Seva Dal activist to take the right information about the government's programmes to the people," she said.