By IANS,
Amritsar: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said his government is committed to bringing a strong Lokpal in the country despite the bill being stalled in parliament.
Addressing a political rally in this Sikh holy city Saturday in support of the Congress candidates of Amritsar district for the Jan 30 elections, the prime minister said corruption was a serious problem in the country and his government wanted to take effective steps to deal with it.
Speaking in Punjabi, Manmohan Singh said: “We are committed to bring a strong Lokpal. Corruption is a serious problem which needs a multi-dimensional approach to tackle it. The Lokpal bill was passed in the Lok Sabha but it was stalled in the Rajya Sabha.”
Asking voters in Punjab to vote for Congress candidates for the development of the state, Manmohan Singh said that the party advocated transparency. He said it was the Congress government that brought the Right to Information Act and got citizens involved in governance.
He said Punjab, under the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule (2007-12) had lagged behind other states and had a debt of Rs.1.2 lakh crore.
He said the Akali Dal-BJP government had not been able to utilize central funds and that agriculture and industry had been neglected under the present government.