The Hindu: New Delhi: Friday,
August 26, 2016.
The Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC) has taken exception to rampant encroachments in
the green lung of the Capital the Ridge area due to delay in its demarcation
and sought a report from the forest and revenue departments in this regard.
The case
relates to an RTI application filed by one Anil Sood seeking details of maps
and measurements of encroachments in the Ridge area.
Sood had
pleaded before the Commission that there were at least 50 cases of encroachment
in the area every day. He had claimed that there was an urgent need to stop
this practice. Taking note of this, CIC Sridhar Acharyulu directed the two
departments to submit a report on the action taken against encroachers.
Forest
department officials, however, did not have answers to questions posed by Mr.
Acharyulu.
He said it
was a highly objectionable attitude of the forest department “to consume months
and months to give just one copy of affidavit which they have already had with
them”.
The forest
department claimed that the demarcation of the ridge had not been authentically
done and that the issue was before the National Green Tribunal and the Delhi
High Court.
Department
slammed
“Their
(Forest Department) approach is hyper-technical and red tape-based. If an
information seeker has to suffer so much of procrastination, how could any
common man challenge the encroachments? How do the so-called conservators
postpone the ‘protection’ of forests from encroachers on the excuses of
non-authentication or no time to demarcate, etc.? How can they keep quiet after
writing a couple of letters to the revenue department?” he asked.
Acharyulu
said the RTI Act was meant to challenge this inaction and red tape and the
Forest Department had to understand this. -PTI
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