Times of India; Oct 24, 2010
PANAJI: Have you filed a right to information (RTI) application and are struggling to get your information from a government department? Fear not, for help is at hand. The Goa RTI Forum was inaugurated in Panaji on October 12 to help citizens in RTI matters, free of cost.
The 35-member forum comprises several social activitists, RTI activists as well as lawyers from Goa. Inaugurated at the hands of celebrated RTI activist and Magsaysay award winner, Arvind Kejriwal, the Forum has long-time Goan RTI activist V A Kamat as its president. Nicholas Dias (lawyer) and Gurudas Natekar are vice-presidents. Kamat told TOI, "The forum will help citizens get information under RTI and provide the assistance they need. We are yet to decide whether we will be able to argue RTI cases for citizens. We will provide them with all the guidance they need at no cost as this is strictly a social service." Kamat, also a member of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan since its inception, is well versed in RTI matters.
He has locked horns with various government departments since 2003 when the Goa Right To Information Act was passed and later, under the Central RTI Act, 2005. Says Kamat, "Although it's been five years since the central Act was passed, it is not so effective in Goa. Many departments still take people for a ride. Some do not provide the information, while others delay and cook up excuses. It becomes a big problem for the layman, which we will solve." As a first step, the forum will create a website where citizens will be able to access all RTI data. It will also provide its members' contact details, such as email IDs and telephone numbers, so that citizens can contact them directly with any queries.
"We also intend to carry out awareness programmes on RTI matters in Goa," Kamat said. One common problem encountered by citizens is that if a citizen makes an RTI application to a government department asking for information pertaining to the entire state, the public information officer (PIO) of the department simply transfers the application to its sections or branches in the various talukas of Goa. The citizen is then asked to go to those section offices in all the talukas to get the information even if it is only one or two pages. "The PIO is supposed to gather the information from his various section offices and give it to the citizen centrally," explains Kamat.
Presently, the forum has no funds and does not intend to take donations fearing it will be indebted to donors. Kamat said that raising of funds will be discussed shortly, but one of its members has offered the forum office space in Panaji. The forum has no dearth of legal eagles. Besides the vice president, there are five more lawyers on the forum including, CCP corporator Avinash Bhosale, Yatish Naik of the Pilerne Citizens' Forum, Suresh Dhond and others. Other prominent members of the forum include Anand
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