Posted On Thursday, March 18, 2010
Participants of RTI meet said district-level citizens’ bodies will be established in April but state-level set-up is necessary to take up policy matters with govt
Over 350 RTI users from 25 districts shared their experiences
The need for a state-level citizens’ organisation was voiced by users of the Right to Information (RTI) Act at a convention held by the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel in the city on Wednesday. Arvind Kejriwal, who had won the Magsaysay award for his contribution to the RTI movement, and Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of Association for Democratic Reforms in India, were the guests of honour.
More than 350 RTI users from 25 districts shared their experiences. They lamented how it took years to lay hands on time-bound information. “The first appeal mechanism is weak due to which cases are piling up at the Gujarat Information Commission office in Gandhinagar. Authorities still feel reluctant to release data,” said a participant.
The users wanted the state-level organisation in place to increase awareness about RTI among masses and take on anyone who threatened RTI users. District-level citizens’ organisations will be established by April. But participants insisted on a state-level set-up that would take up policy matters with government authorities.
Hike in wages
Sabarkantha resident Natubhai Barot used RTI to get workers their rightful wages under the National Rural Employment Act, 2005. “The workers were paid Rs 4 per day instead of the minimum wage of Rs 50 per day. I filed appeals with the district panchayat but they went unheard.
I also approached state officials but my plea was ignored. Finally, I filed an RTI with the programming officer of Prantij block regarding the work, wages and time limit specified under NREGA. Armed with the information, workers got minimum wages of Rs 50. And if they worked more, they could earn more too.”
More officials
The Information Commission, which was functioning only with a chief information commissioner so far, got two new information commissioners this week. This happened on the basis of an RTI filed by Amit Jethwa, president of Gir Nature Youth Club, with the GAD eight months ago. He sought to know how many posts for information commissioners were sanctioned.
He also wanted to know about the procedure for appointment. “We found that two years ago, two posts for information commissioners had been sanctioned. There were around 6,000 pending cases and just one man to deal with it. Based on this data, we filed a PIL in the high court. Couple of days ago, retired IAS officers Netra Chinoy and Arvind Shukla were appointed to help out Chief Information Commissioner R N Das,” said Jethwa.
Directory delivery
Vastrapur resident P K Joshi filed an RTI to get hold of a telephone directory that had been promised to BSNL landline holders. “The BSNL had published an advertisement in a newspaper in February 2009, promising home delivery of telephone directories to its landline customers.
I waited for five months, but the book never arrived. I then visited its customer care centre, but was not given the book. So, I submitted an RTI application along with the press cutting at the BSNL office in August. The next day, the book was delivered at home. The employee said recession had forced the contractor to stagger the supply of copies.,” he said.
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