The Tribune: Bhatinda: Tuesday, July 11, 2017.
A two-day
training for Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Assistant Public
Information Officers (APIOs) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act started
at the Regional Centre of Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public
Administration (MGSIPA) here today.
Inaugurating
the event, Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra said the RTI Act was meant to
provide information to masses in a transparent manner. During the training, he
directed officers to display information regarding respective departments on
boards and on websites so that people got primary information easily in public
domain.
Directing the
officers, he asked them to check the RTI registers of respective departments
once in a week and instead of getting the work done from lower staff, the
officers should do the same themselves. He also directed the officers to ensure
that information under RTI was provided within a set timeframe mentioned in the
RTI Act and complete information was provided to the applicant.
Speaking at
the event, Jarnail Singh, coordinator for Centre of Communication Studies,
MGSIPA, Chandigarh, said the PIO should provide information to an applicant
within 30 days and if information was related to life or freedom of someone, it
should be provided within 48 hours.
During
today’s training, advocate Darshan Bajaj spoke on the background and enactment
of the RTI Act. He said information pertaining to the third party could not be
provided under the Act. The third party means any person other than the
applicant, he said.
Assistant
professor Nimmi Jindal informed PIOs and APIOs about guidelines of the Act.
Prof Tarun Arora from Centre University of Punjab gave information on state
information commissions and commissioners.
MGSIPA
(Bathinda) project coordinator Mandeep Singh, officers from rural development
and panchayat, agriculture, program office, health department and social
security were also present.