After three more hunger strikers at Azad Maidan broke their fast on Thursday morning, the tenth day of the campaign, 17 people, including three women, remained from the original group of 64.
Among them was Urmila Lunawara, a municipal school teacher, who is protesting against corruption in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run schools. "Corruption is not just theft of public money; denying quality education to children who attend municipal schools is also corruption," she said.
Ramesh Wankhede, a driver from Dahisar, said he was resolute in his decision to continue his fast till Anna Hazare, the leader of the movement for the Jan Lokpal Bill gave up his fast.
"I will fast till I lose consciousness," he said.
Rampratap Singh from Vakola, Santa Cruz, said Hazare was the guru he was looking for. He said that after 10 days of fasting, the craving for food that he had experienced in the first few days of the fast have gone away.
"I think the country was not corrupt till the end of Lal Bahadur Shastri's term as Prime Minister. Then government workers took bribes by asking us to pass packets of money under the table; now they have no shame in openly asking for money," said Singh who helps his two sons run a tutorial in Vakola.
Doctors attending to the hunger strikers said their health indicators were good. Dr Kalpana Kamani who is one of the three doctors at the protest venue said that some of the hunger strikers have hyperacidity, headache and dehydration.
"We took their blood and urine samples today. I am a Jain and people in our community often go on 40-day-long fasts. So with strong will power, they will be able to go on for some more days," said Kamani.
