He stripped to get PF, now uses RTI to get water for his village

Sachin Sharma  TNN

Vadodara: Two years ago, he stripped to his trunks much like the elderly character in the movie ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ when his application for withdrawal of Provident Fund (PF) was being delayed unnecessarily. But today, he wields a pen, papers, files and RTI, and takes up issues that are not only personal, but for public good.

Indravadan Patel, a farmer, now fights against the callous attitude of government officials using RTI. The first issue Patel has taken up is that of an incomplete Narmada minor canal at Atali village in Karjan taluka where he stays and has farms. The canal was incomplete and despite repeated representations, no development took place. “Farmers need water and will earn a lot if things move fast. But, the officials had done little so far,” Patel said.

Matters were complicated as many persons had made illegal water connections to the canal. This fact was known to many, but no action was taken in this regard. Things changed when Patel filed an RTI application to know the number of illegal connections and why there was no progress in the canal work. Without wasting time, work started on the canal and officers came back for a re-survey. “Today, the process of legal connections to the canal waters has speeded up and corrupt officials are being nailed,” says Patel.

Patel says that the land of farmers was acquired for Atali minor canal about a decade ago. “But, there was no progress in the work on the canal in the last six years,” he says.

His RTI application has sought details and documents regarding various aspects of the canal including the officials, who served during the period when no work was done on the canal. He has also sought details of the contractors, who were granted contracts for construction of the canal during this period. Patel even wrote to senior officials and even irrigation minister Nitin Patel. “But that is not enough. The work on the canal has to begin and I will not stop till that happens,” Patel says. He claims that vested interests in Atali do not want the canal to be constructed. “They are eyeing huge tracts of land. If a farmer does not get water, they will get it at cheap rates. They are themselves stealing water using illegal connections even as we are forced to run from pillar to post to see the canal through,” he said.