Times of India: Nagpur:
Tuesday, April 02, 2013.
We elect our
representatives so that they work for our betterment by raising our grievances
in the legislative assembly. But, how many of them have actually done their
duty. How many of them have raised issues hounding common man? An RTI query by
city-based social worker Abhay Kolarkar has thrown some light on the whole
scenario. He demanded information regarding starred and unstarred queries asked
by the MLAs from Vidarbha for past three years, spanning from 2009 to 2012,
covering about 13 sessions (including budget, monsoon and winter).
The
information supplied by the section and information officer at the legislature
secretariat Sangita Vidhate points out that 62 MLAs from the region, excluding
ministers, have collectively asked 11,649 queries. 3,502 queries were rejected.
Of the queries that had been asked, 2,726 were starred questions while 8,923
were unstarred.
Ironically,
some MLAs like Amravati's Ravi Rana and Washim's Subhash Zanak haven't asked
even a single query in these three years. Rana, however, strongly denied the
RTI information stating that he had not only raised queries but also
highlighted a host of other issues. And to get these solved he had even
observed a hunger strike and courted arrest.
Following
them closely are Washim's Prakash Dahake and former minister from Buldhana
Rajendra Shingne who managed to raise just 15 and 16 queries each, excluding
the rejected ones. Similarly, Hinganghat's Ashok Shinde and Yavatmal's Vijayrao
Khadse shared the poor-track record by raising just 23 and 25 queries each.
Buldhana's Dilipkumar Sananda also had asked just 23 queries. Former President
Pratibha Patil's son Raosaheb Shekhawat could manage to raise just 32 queries
while 27 others were rejected. The scores of other MLAs from Nagpur are not
very impressive. Sunil Kedar raised just 52 issues, Krishna Khopde-87 and
Dinanath Padole-191.
The
secretariat, however, didn't provide information regarding queries asked by
MLAs who had been elevated to the minister's posts. These include Nitin Raut,
Anil Deshmukh, Shivajirao Moghe, Sanjay Deotale, Manohar Naik, deputy speaker
Vasant Purke, and Ranjit Kamble.
Among top
performers Kamptee MLA Chandrashekhar Bawankule leads the pack by asking as
many as 832 questions ones highlighting various problems faced by the voters of
his constituency. South-West Nagpur MLA Devendra Fadnavis follows him with 739
questions. State BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar has asked 550 queries,
followed by Chandrapur's Nana Shyamkule with 454 queries. Gondia's Rajkumar
Badole has raised 420 issues while Amravati's Virendra Jagtap asked 399
questions, and Buldhana's Vinayraj Shinde 394.
Kolarlar
questioned that if ministers haven't asked any queries or raised issues as
highlighted by the RTI reply, then who will solve problems faced by the voters
of their respective constituencies.
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