Indian activists cut short Gere speech

‘‘I am terrified.. Indians are the most unruly people, it is an outrage,’’ Gere joked.

While the NGO members did not let Gere complete his speech, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) chief Meenakshi Dutta Ghosh was allowed to highlight the Government policies on AIDS. Ghosh’s claims were, however, contested by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who said that the bureaucrats were not dispensing the funds, though there was no paucity of funds to fight the disease. ‘‘The bureaucrats fear that the funds might be misutilised but if 20 to 10 per cent funds are misutilised, the rest can at least be used,’’ she said. The incident also highlighted the divide in the Indian delegation here. While government officials claimed that India is heading towards arresting the growth of HIV/AIDS patients, the NGOs felt that 5.1 million was too huge a figure to be ignored.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said two films on the AIDS theme, Main Jeena Chahata Hoon and Phir se Asha, will be made tax free.

Recalling a short film featuring actress Shabana Azmi with the message that AIDS cannot be contracted by touching an HIV positive person, Dikshit said ‘‘that film had maximum recall value’’.

‘‘Through advertising, spreading the message and making AIDS-affected people feel part of our society is very very important,’’ she added.

More than 400 people, including actress Shabana Azmi, entrepreneur Parmeshwar Godrej, heard through all the members but as Rao came on the stage, they found that the time for the question-answer session will be considerably shortened.

Today’s session was a lacklustre affair, as most senior members of the delegation, including Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss and Health Secretary J.V.R. Prasada Rao, had left for India yesterday.