Free Press Journal: Mumbai: Saturday,
March 11, 2017.
A penalty of
Rs 25,000 has been imposed on a civic official from Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation’s L ward (Kurla) by Ratnakar Gaikwad, State Information Officer,
for failing to reply to a Right to Information (RTI) inquiry.
Sandesh More,
an activist from L ward, had filed an RTI for a detailed report on action taken
against illegal constructions in 14 constituencies (Ward no. 150 – 164) in L
ward.
Speaking to
the Free Press Journal, More said, “I filed an RTI in March 2016 and asked for
the entire details on inquiry done on illegal structures. There has been an
increase in the unauthorised structures in areas like Kamani, LBS Marg and
Kurla East. Officials are not bothered about the illegal structures in their
area because of which they are afraid to reply to my RTI query.”
More added
that he waited for 10 months before approaching the State Information Officer.
He said, “I filed my first appeal in December after which a show-cause l notice
was issued to the official. The civic officials from the building and factory
department of L ward did not appear when summoned by the Information Officer
and were then penalised for the same.”
According to
the penalty report, the fine will be deducted from the salary of the civic
officer in five instalments.
A part of the
Mithi River, which is within the boundaries of L ward, has been encroached upon
by slum-dwellers. Anuradha Pednekar, Shiv Sena Corporator from Kurla’s Nehru
Nagar, had recently raised a point of order in the civic body’s standing
committee regarding the rise in the number of unauthorised constructions.
Pednekar
said, “The civic officials responsible for inquiring into unauthorised
structures have turned a blind eye to the illegalities carried out by
contractors. There are numerous illegal structures in the L ward that are
functioning without a No Objection Certificate (NOC). Sadly, such cases are
ignored by the civic body.”
Pednekar
further alleged that the Assistant Municipal Commissioner of L ward, Ajitkumar
Ambi, has allowed the contractors to carry out illegal constructions in the
ward. Pednekar said, “The ward officer has failed to demolish any of the
illegal structures. The contractors have illegally encroached upon open spaces
and even the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) of Mithi River.”
In brief
A Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation’s civic official has been fined Rs 25,000 by Ratnakar
Gaikwad, State Information Officer, for failing to reply to a Right to
Information (RTI) petition.
Sandesh More
had filed the query for a detailed report on action taken against illegal
constructions in 14 constituencies in L ward.
More said he
waited 10 months before he approached the State Information Officer.
The fine will
be deducted from the salary of the civic officer in five instalments.
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