Times
of India: Hubballi: Monday, 20 July 2015.
The RTI cell,
opened at the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), is facing the wrath
of RTI activists and public for allegedly denying information for one reason or
the other. The silence of the HDMC commissioner on this issue has made some
activists approach the higher authorities in Bengaluru.
Santosh
Nargund, convenor of the Hubballi-Dharwad Pragati Sankalp Action Committee,
said this RTI cell is anti-citizen. "Instead of helping implement the RTI
Act, it's systemically shooing away applicants. I sent my wife recently to
submit seven applications. There were three persons in the cell and they didn't
accept the applications citing various reasons. They didn't even listen to me
when she connected us by phone. They called up some senior, who without
listening to us, gave an address to which he wanted us to send the application.
When we said they should give this in writing, they declined," he said.
Ironically,
the same application was accepted when Nargund went the next day and spoke to
them.
Rajeev Varma,
an intrapreneur, said, "I'd sent an application in an envelope labeled
'RTI application' two months ago. It was rejected by the HDMC. When I sent it
again to the commissioner, there was no response. Are we in a democratic setup?
If we send an email to the commissioner's official id, we never get any
response."
Vivekanand
Salins said his application was rejected as it was in English. "Despite my
repeated attempts to convince them, they insisted I submit it only in Kannada.
When I went with a Kannada application, they found said it not addressed to the
right authority. Instead of helping public file applications, they're
discouraging us," he said.
Some
activists approached officials in departments like the municipal
administration, DPAR-AR and state information commission. They're also planning
a protest.
When contacted,
assistant commissioner SR Math, who is in-charge of the RTI cell, said,
"If applications are in English or Hindi, we request them to file them in
Kannada. If applications are not related to the HDMC, we suggest the applicants
approach the department concerned. We have not rejected any applications sent
by SpeedPost. We'll streamline our process anyway."
Official
speaks:
I get
hundreds of emails and it's very difficult to check all of them. I've received
many complaints from our personnel that some RTI activists harass them. I'm
unaware that activists are being harassed by our personnel. I'll take
appropriate action against errant staff.
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