The
Citizen: New Delhi: Monday, 14 September 2015.
He is an
eyesore for the builder lobby as well as the officials and local politicians
who have been making a quick buck throwing every norm to the wind as the
economic capital of Himachal Pradesh reels under illegal constructions.
In his eight
year old fight against the rich and mighty of Solan, Prem Singh Tanganiya has
been threatened, assaulted and has had his livelihood threatened. But he has
stood his ground as a Right to Information (RTI) activist who has filed no less
than 300 applications and has collected around 50,000 pages as information,
mainly on the corruption and wrongdoings of the builder lobby.
Coming from
Doba village near Amarkot in Bageshwar district of neighbouring Uttarakhand,
Prem works as an outdoor photographer in the town’s children park to make his
ends meet.
How this
middle pass man became an RTI activist is a sad tale. “My elder son who was
employed with a local builder lost his life after being electrocuted at a
construction site in 2007. The builder along with a neighbouring businessman
fudged the evidence and tried everything possible to hush up the case. The
police refused to divulge details and dilly dallied in registering the case. It
was at this point that someone told me about the RTI act,” he told The Citizen.
“With my son
dead, I had nothing else to lose. So I decided to take on the builder lobby. I
am a poor man but I do get small support from various quarters and the people
who are suffering at the hands of the rich and the powerful,” he said.
Over the
years he has become a landmine of information on how law is subverted to cheat
the common people as well as the government. “I came to know how no objection
certificates were being fudged for the green belts, how ghost flats were being
constructed and how illegal power and water connections were being obtained,” he
disclosed.
Solan, one of
the fastest growing cities in Asia, in fact is a perfect example of how a once
beautiful hill station has been turned into a dump by government and
administrative apathy and the greed of a few builders. Successive governments
have not only failed to curb the illegal constructions but have instead fueled
it. The builders have gone to the extent of usurping even public toilets and
constructing buildings that hang precariously on railway tracks.
“One can feel
the rumble when the train passes beneath,” said a shopkeeper of one such
complex.
“It is true
that the successive governments have lacked the political will to curb the
menace. The government can put an end to the menace immediately if it wants,”
admitted a senior functionary of the present Congress regime in the state.
“We have cut
power and water connections to these illegal buildings but these are just
temporary measures. Everyone right from the lowest man in the revenue
department to the top level officials are part of the racket. Otherwise how can
a builder having a permission to build 100 flats or six blocks build 160 flats
and entire ghost blocks. The most ironical part is that there has been no
attempt by anyone to file a public interest litigation and neither have the
courts taken suo-motu cognizance,” said one of the senior most functionaries of
the local civic body.
The fragile
ecology of the hills has been totally ignored and so has been the seismic
activity in the entire Himalayan belt. With there being curbs on purchase of
land, the flats are the only viable housing option available and this is being
cashed by the builder lobby in connivance with the politicians and officials.
Amidst all
this Prem has had his small set of victories. Today, he is a familiar name in
the state bureaucracy and his efforts have led to people becoming aware of
their being duped.
His major
victory came in 2014 when the state government decided to do away with its
proposed retention policy that envisaged allowing builders who had built
structures up to six and eight storeys to get illegal storeys legalized by
paying a lump sum amount.
“Today I am
being lured by money but will that money bring my son back. My only regret is
that had I been more educated, I would have fought this battle more
efficiently,” he said. His RTI activism has taken a toll on his daily earnings
also as he has to spend several hours pursuing his newfound passion.
He has a
strong message for the people of this hill state, “If one Prem can bring the
entire corrupt set up to its knees, imagine what can happen if there is a group
of activists at work.”
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