Chennai, Aug 18 (IANS) The mood Thursday remained upbeat among the people who gathered at a construction site in the upmarket Adyar area here on the third day of a relay fast in support of activist Anna Hazare’s demand for a strong anti-corruption bill.


Skits by Loyola College students on how corruption affects common people in everyday life, anti-bribe pledges and a 40-member group of students and software professionals coming to the venue on their bikes marked the third day of the fast which started Tuesday.

“A total of 32 people including one women are on indefinite fast. Around 100 people have registered for relay fast,” media coordinator of India Against Corruption (IAC) Bhavana Upadhyaya told IANS.

The youngest person to fast was Arvind Bharathi, 18, and the oldest was 81-year old Appa Indravel, she added.

Around 2,000 people have visited the protest site since morning to express their solidarity with the anti-corruption movement.

Hazare had planned to begin his fast for a stronger Lokpal bill in New Delhi Tuesday. However, Delhi Police imposed certain conditions before allowing the protest. Hazare refused to sign the undertaking, following which police arrested him and his other team members Tuesday.

He was arrested and subsequently released but refused to leave the jail. But now he will begin his 15-day-long fast at Ramlila ground in Delhi as his conditions have been met.

The protest here will continue till Hazare ends his fast in New Delhi, Upadhyaya said.