DNA: Ahmedabad : Tuesday, May 15, 2012.
Contrary to popular perception that Right to Information (RTI) activists target public-oriented departments of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), it is the estate department that has received the maximum number of RTIs in the civic body. Seems the citizens too are wary of being caught in the trap of illegal houses and are getting increasingly cautious about their moves.
As per data obtained from AMC, Estate/Town Development Office (TDO) department has received 2,248 RTIs in last two years, highest among all AMC departments. This indicates that activists are particularly interested in garnering information about hoarding rights in different zones and consequently, income of TDO.
RTI activist Vishwas Bhamburkar believes that most queries must pertain to illegal construction and its details.
"Many people want to confirm legality of their homes. Those buying new houses file RTIs to check whether the builder has followed TDO guidelines. Citizens know that there are lots of irregularities in the realty space but they want hard evidence, hence the RTIs," said Bhamburkar.
Another RTI activist, Vinod Pandya stated that even advertising agencies file RTIs to know which agency has been given hoarding rights by the AMC. "Agencies try to find out these details through RTIs with TDO department," said Pandya.
The tax department of AMC comes in next after TDO in this list of maximum RTIs filed. As per municipal commissioner Guruprasad Mohapatra, tax and land feature substantially and financially in people's lives, which is the reason why TDO and tax department receive maximum number of RTIs. "The department (TDO) also deals with property, TP schemes, illegal properties. These further contribute to more RTIs with estate department," said Mohapatra.
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