Sunday, March 19, 2017

Man fined, family ostracised for filing RTI plea in Telangana village.

Hindustan Times: Srinivas Rao Apparasu : Hyderabad : Sunday, March 19, 2017.
A 31-year-old man was fined Rs 60,000 and later ostracised along with his family over an RTI petition he filed to find out about suspected irregularities in electric transformers installed in his village in Telangana’s Nizamabad district.
B Raju Goud, a toddy tapper in G G Nadikuda village of Nandipet block, and his family were ostracised on Monday by the village development committee which oversees the implementation of various developmental works there.
Villagers have refused to even speak with him and his family as the committee has imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on anybody found talking to them.
“There has been no supply milk and water to my residence. Nobody is purchasing toddy from us. No shopkeeper is selling provisions or vegetables to us,” Goud told HT.
Currently, he goes to neighbouring Gadepalli village for provisions and other requirements.
“Except a couple of friends from the neighbouring village, nobody is bothered about my family,” he said, adding that the committee is planning to drive them out of the village. “We have been living here for the last 50 years.”