Indian
Express: Vadodara: Saturday, 28 March 2015.
The Vadodara
Municipal Corporation (VMC), which has faced staunch opposition from citizen
groups and political parties against its decision to construct a butterfly park
inside the premises of the Kamatibaug garden, has now landed itself into
trouble with an incorrect reply under the RTI Act.
In an RTI
reply to a citizen, the Parks and Gardens department has said that the cost of
the butterfly park is Rs 6.38 lakh. In reality, the corporation has issued the
work order of the project for approximately Rs 7 crore.
The RTI reply
has left applicant Pankaj Darve shocked. Darve had sought information regarding
the details of the project, including its cost, the consultation sought and the
study conducted by the VMC before arriving at a conclusion that the
construction of a park is feasible and sustainable in the city of Vadodara.
Darve said,
“The department failed to provide me with the relevant answers to the details
of the feasibility survey conducted by them before deciding to spend the tax
payers money. What is even more shocking is that they sent me a figure of Rs
6.38 lakh, written in clear words, as the cost of the project in their official
reply while they have been publicizing the ambitious project to be close to Rs
7 crore.”
He said that
the RTI reply stated that the department was unable to answer his questions
regarding feasibility survey and expert consultations and invited him “for a
discussion” about it. In his meeting with the department officials on Friday,
Darve said, no answers were provided.
“The officer
did not provide any satisfactory reply to my query including the cost. I was
told that the reply was given as per the records. I am now moving an appeal
against the officers for providing me with a misleading, incorrect information
contrary to their public claims. This reply makes it clear that the project is
ridden with corruption and lacks transparent records,” Darve added. When
contacted, VMC officials went into damage control mode, blaming “human error”
for the mistake in their official RTI reply. V R Shikhaliya, Director of Parks
and Gardens department, said, “The cost is certainly Rs 7 crore and there is
nothing malicious about the reply. The error has happened at the end of the
clerk of the engineering department who has typed the reply to the applicant. We
will rectify the error at the earliest or provide our explanation to the
appellate authority if the resident decides to appeal.”
Shikaliya
said that the error should not be seen as a deliberate attempt by the VMC to
hide the information. “The Act requires us to provide the correct information
and the error is unfortunate. But there is nothing to hide about the project.
Whatever information is available with us, we have provided the same to the
applicant,” Shikhaliya said.
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