The Asian Age: New Delhi: Sunday, July 30, 2017.
Lawyer-cum-social
activist Vivek Garg is one of the few Right to Information (RTI) advocates in
Delhi who have been on the forefront in culling information from official files
and sharing it with the people to show them whether the system is working for
their welfare.
Talking to
this correspondent, Mr Garg said that fighting for justice is in his nature.
His area of focus is to keep a tab on bureaucrats and politicians, whom he
believes are the roots of corruption. After getting information from government
departments, he brings it to the public domain through the media. He also
approaches the Anti Corruption Branch of the Delhi government, CBI, and courts
for the prosecution of those people against whom he gathers strong evidence in
his RTI replies.
Mr.Garg said
that he has filed around 15,000 RTI applications the past decade. He was
successfully been able to expose several scams such as the sugar scam, onion
scam, CNG fitness scam etc through his RTI activism.
Asked about
what hurdles he faces in getting his information, Mr. Garg said that it is very
difficult to get complete and factual information from the government on all
RTI applications, especially from the Delhi government.
These
agencies, he added, try to shield information on contentious issues. “But
whatever information we get, we fight with the resources and manpower we have
and it is our priority to distribute information so that it reaches the masses.
He said taxpayers have the right to know where their money is going and whether
it is being utilised or misused by the officers.