RTI pushes Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials into action

Times of India: Ludhiana: Saturday, March 22, 2014.

How afraid MC officials are of the Right to Information is evident from the fact that they have started taking action against offenders flouting norms, after an RTI application was filed by Ravi Sharma, a city resident, in January. The applicant had sought information on different aspects of the MC's slaughter house, after which officials started issuing challans to offenders selling meat without proper verification, as prescribed by the MC.

The huge number of meat shops running in Zone C and D of the city has brought forth the lack of seriousness authorities pay towards the issue. A huge difference is witnessed in the number of challans issued in the entire year 2013 of and in the first three months of 2014, after the RTI was filed. While only 13 challans were issued in the whole of 2013 in Zone C, the number surprisingly rose to 28 in just three months of 2014 (Jan-Mar). A similar trend can be witnessed in Zone D as well, as only seven challans were issued in 2013, as against 14 in Jan-Mar 2014.

Sanitary inspectors Jagtar Singh, Narinder Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Neta and Netaji are the ones geared up to issue challans under the pressure of the RTI. Interestingly, some of the sanitary inspectors who had been assigned the duty of issuing challans earlier never issued the same to anyone. Ravi Kumar, sanitary inspector from Zone A, and Raj Kumar and Vimal Kumar from Zone B, are the ones who had never issued challans. At present, there are 22 sanitary inspectors to keep a check on approximately 300 meat shops in the area.

While suspicion was already raised on the functioning of the slaughter house due to a huge difference between the animals slaughtered and consumed, the limited challans issued to defaulters increases suspicions even more. The health wing, under which the slaughter house falls, is headed by joint commissioner AS Sekhon, who has miserably failed to tighten the noose on restaurants and meatshops selling animal food without verification.

Though the number of animals slaughtered has increased to about 39,000 in 2013 from around 19,000 in 2012, the number of challans issued has not increased in significant proportion. "Though our teams are carrying some raids, stringent action will continue, along with efforts to systematize the process," said MC commissioner Shruti Singh.