No kidding! 14-year boy sends civic authorities on backfoot with his RTI ‘act’
Express News Service Posted: Nov 01, 2008 at 0136 hrs IST
For some, RTI means Right To get IllogicalGiving a voice to the common man
Ahmedabad, October 31 : As the Right to Information Act (RTI) goes on empowering people across rural parts of the country, it has brought 14-year-old Vinit Patel from Visnagar in Mehsana into the national limelight.
Vinit is perhaps the youngest information seeker, who has pushed the local civic authorities on the backfoot with his questions pertaining to irregular water supply to his society and a long pending demand for road connectivity.
Impressed by the move, Mumbai-based Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT) has decided to honour the boy with the Navleen Kumar Award for 2008. The award will be handed over to Vinit at a special ceremony in Mumbai on November 5.
“There is an acute problem of water in our society. Also, the residents have for a long time been demanding a road here,” said Vinit, a Class VIII student of Sahajanand Secondary School. “I was wondering if something could be done about this, when my father told me that I can seek information from the civic authorities under the RTI Act. My uncle, who had already done something like this in Visnagar, helped me to file the petition in May this year,” he added.
“I wanted to know why the water supply to our society was so erratic and sought a lab report of the water. I also asked them as to why there was no road to our society and who all had filed tenders for the road so far,” Vinit told Newsline. He further said that as the answers provided by the authorities were unsatisfactory, he approached the Mehsana District Collector, who in turn has asked him to file an application in the prescribed form. “I will file it in the next couple of days,” he added.
Talking about the award, he said though it is a good feeling, he would not be able to enjoy the occasion much as he lost his father Pankaj Patel in September.
“It was my father who inspired me to file the application. But he is not with me anymore,” he said.
Navleen Kumar Award is given in the name of noted land rights activist who was murdered by the land mafia in Mumbai in June 2006.
The PCGT confers this award in two categories — individual and organisation. While Vinit bags the award in the individual category, Ahmedabad-based Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel gets it in the organisation category.
Express News Service Posted: Nov 01, 2008 at 0136 hrs IST
For some, RTI means Right To get IllogicalGiving a voice to the common man
Ahmedabad, October 31 : As the Right to Information Act (RTI) goes on empowering people across rural parts of the country, it has brought 14-year-old Vinit Patel from Visnagar in Mehsana into the national limelight.
Vinit is perhaps the youngest information seeker, who has pushed the local civic authorities on the backfoot with his questions pertaining to irregular water supply to his society and a long pending demand for road connectivity.
Impressed by the move, Mumbai-based Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT) has decided to honour the boy with the Navleen Kumar Award for 2008. The award will be handed over to Vinit at a special ceremony in Mumbai on November 5.
“There is an acute problem of water in our society. Also, the residents have for a long time been demanding a road here,” said Vinit, a Class VIII student of Sahajanand Secondary School. “I was wondering if something could be done about this, when my father told me that I can seek information from the civic authorities under the RTI Act. My uncle, who had already done something like this in Visnagar, helped me to file the petition in May this year,” he added.
“I wanted to know why the water supply to our society was so erratic and sought a lab report of the water. I also asked them as to why there was no road to our society and who all had filed tenders for the road so far,” Vinit told Newsline. He further said that as the answers provided by the authorities were unsatisfactory, he approached the Mehsana District Collector, who in turn has asked him to file an application in the prescribed form. “I will file it in the next couple of days,” he added.
Talking about the award, he said though it is a good feeling, he would not be able to enjoy the occasion much as he lost his father Pankaj Patel in September.
“It was my father who inspired me to file the application. But he is not with me anymore,” he said.
Navleen Kumar Award is given in the name of noted land rights activist who was murdered by the land mafia in Mumbai in June 2006.
The PCGT confers this award in two categories — individual and organisation. While Vinit bags the award in the individual category, Ahmedabad-based Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel gets it in the organisation category.
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