Himalayan Times: Kathmandu: Sunday,
July 24, 2016.
Government
employees seems to be unaware about the Right to Information (RTI) Act, even
after it is going to be a decade that the country’s Constitution guaranteed it.
While sharing
their experiences at a seminar organised in the Capital on Friday, RTI
campaigner and employees at the public agencies said that the government
employees did not behave properly with the service seekers.
According to
Narayan Rai, a reporter of Dhankuta District, government employees still worry
over the disclosure of information, arguing that they could face risk.
“Information
seekers are taken as a ‘stray dog’ in the beginning. We are quite mistreated at
the government offices,” he said, adding, “Constant follow ups on the
information requests obviously prodded them to disclose the information on
various topics.”
RTI
campaigner Raju Shrestha from Morang district said, “Corruption is democratised
because the government offices still hide information for public.”
Bishwojit
Rai, Information Officer at the District Development Committee (DDC), Udayapur
accepted that he had rejected information sought by various persons time and
again in the past.
“We take the
oath of office and secrecy. This oath urges us not to disclose information. So,
keeping secrecy in the government offices was normal,” he said
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