DM forced to provide medicare under RTI

Ashok Pradhan, TNN; Apr 1, 2011,

BHUBANESWAR: Questions of life and liberty in an application under the Right to Information Act "compelled" the district administration of Sundargarh, 350 km from here, to provide emergency medical care to a group of agitators on hunger strike recently. The government machinery had otherwise "ignored" for 10 days the 20-odd "Mission Shakti" volunteers who were on a hunger strike. Five of them had fallen ill.

The agitators comprising livelihood specialists, microfinance specialists and multi-purpose workers started the indefinite hunger strike in front of the collectorate on March 15 demanding the release of their remuneration. Five of them were taken ill by March 25. "They needed to be hospitalized," said Janardan Panigrahi, one of the agitators. But there was no healthcare support for them. The agitation is still on.

Banambar Sahu, an RTI activist, on March 28 filed an RTI application seeking details of medical check-up of the agitators. The chief district medical officer extended medical help the same day soon after the application. Sahu got answers to his queries within 48 hours on March 30 since it was a matter pertaining to life and liberty.

Activists described the development as a rare success story of RTI at the grassroots level. "It is probably for the first time that a matter regarding life and liberty has been invoked in an RTI application in Orissa," said Nisikant Mahapatra, an RTI activist.

The district social welfare office said Mission Shakti volunteers were on a hunger strike since March 15 and the matter was brought to the notice of the superintendent of police and CDMO on March 25.

The social welfare officer on March 25 had also written to the director, Mission Shakti, that 17 block-level staff of the rural Integrated Child Development Services ( ICDS) Scheme under the mission had not been paid their remuneration since March 15 and were on a strike.
While specialists get Rs 5,000 per month, multi-purpose workers get Rs 2,500 as remuneration. "The government can terminate the contract in December 2012, but it must pay our dues," said one of the volunteers.