It took an RTI query to expose Varanasi Municipal Corporation's tall claims

Times of India‎: Varanasi: Saturday, May 21, 2016.

How the BJP's mayor as well as the municipal body are handling the execution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cherished dream of developing Kashi on the lines of Kyoto, gets exposed with the fact that the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has no document or information related to Kyoto-Varanasi partnership agreement that was signed in presence of Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on August 30, 2014. The partner city agreement was signed by Indian ambassador Deepa Wadhwa and Kyoto mayor Daisaka Kadokawa during Modi's visit to Japan.

Congress leader and a member of Cantonment Board, Shailendra Singh, had given an application to the VMC on May 10, 2015, under the RTI Act seeking information about Varanasi-Kyoto agreement and the work done so far. Seeking a copy of the document, he wanted to know whether any agreement with the officials of Kyoto was made for the development of Kashi. He also wanted to know whether any official delegation from Kyoto visited Varanasi for the implementation of the agreement.

In response to the query, the information officer and additional municipal commissioner, through a letter dated May 16, said that there is no document available with the VMC, hence it is not possible to provide information on this matter. "It is really shocking to know that VMC has no documentary information regarding the much- hyped Varanasi-Kyoto agreement," said Singh.

Mayor Ram Gopal Mohaley said that he had already provided a report to the municipal authorities. But, additional municipal commissioner B K Dwivedi denied receiving any such report. Taking a serious note, the mayor wrote a letter to the municipal commissioner asking him to constitute a committee to investigate the matter as to how misleading information was provided. Whatever be the fact, but one thing is seemingly clear: Modi's dream is being shattered in his own parliamentary constituency. After the agreement, several delegations from Kyoto visited Varanasi to study the city and prevailing conditions and held talks with local authorities. A delegation from Varanasi comprising the mayor, district magistrate and divisional commissioner also visited Kyoto in April 2015.