The Times of India: Ahmedabad: Thursday, March 29, 2012.
NADIAD: People living below the poverty line (BPL) can't afford one square meal a day, but you have to be a 'lakhpati' to ask for information about BPL cardholders. Maulik Shrimali, a municipal school board member of Nadiad, got the shock of his life when he asked for details of BPL families and people with roaming ration cards in Nadiad town from the mamlatdar.
He was given a bill of Rs 23.80 lakh to get the information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act! Shrimali had asked the information for the period since April 2008. A small businessman, he does not have the means to pay such a large amount.
"I was handed the bill some time back," he says. "The public information officer (PIO) refuses to divulge information on roaming ration cards, which are specially given to migrant tribals or labour population which keeps moving from place to place. I smelt something fishy with the cards when they slapped the bill as they may have counted 12 lakh beneficiaries of BPL and the roaming ration cards in Nadiad."
He adds that the mamlatdar has retired and left the matter unresolved. Pankti Jog, co-ordinator for Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pehel (MAGP), says, "This is atrocious. As under manual 11, 12 and 13 of section 4(1)(b) of RTI Act the mamlatdar has to disclose information voluntarily. If the information sought is voluminous, the PIO has to give an option of providing information in a CD. The mamlatdar was willfully playing foul here."
Mahesh Pandya, another city-based RTI activist, says, "Information relating to beneficiaries of BPL cards, NREGA, ration cards, agriculture schemes, food and seed subsidies are to be voluntarily disclosed. For a small town like Nadiad, 12 lakh beneficiaries seem suspicious. The town may not even get six lakh migrant labourers in a year."
He was given a bill of Rs 23.80 lakh to get the information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act! Shrimali had asked the information for the period since April 2008. A small businessman, he does not have the means to pay such a large amount.
"I was handed the bill some time back," he says. "The public information officer (PIO) refuses to divulge information on roaming ration cards, which are specially given to migrant tribals or labour population which keeps moving from place to place. I smelt something fishy with the cards when they slapped the bill as they may have counted 12 lakh beneficiaries of BPL and the roaming ration cards in Nadiad."
He adds that the mamlatdar has retired and left the matter unresolved. Pankti Jog, co-ordinator for Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pehel (MAGP), says, "This is atrocious. As under manual 11, 12 and 13 of section 4(1)(b) of RTI Act the mamlatdar has to disclose information voluntarily. If the information sought is voluminous, the PIO has to give an option of providing information in a CD. The mamlatdar was willfully playing foul here."
Mahesh Pandya, another city-based RTI activist, says, "Information relating to beneficiaries of BPL cards, NREGA, ration cards, agriculture schemes, food and seed subsidies are to be voluntarily disclosed. For a small town like Nadiad, 12 lakh beneficiaries seem suspicious. The town may not even get six lakh migrant labourers in a year."
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