Indian
Express: Pune: Sunday, 18 October 2015.
The family
members of slain RTI activist Satish Shetty say the statements made by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi during the 10 anniversary of the RTI Act were
“political” in nature.
Modi had
asked government departments to keep in mind three ‘T’s, timeliness,
transparency and trouble-free approach, while replying to RTI applications to
help reduce errors in governance.
Sandeep
Shetty, brother of Satish Shetty who was murdered in Talegaon Dabhade in Pune
on January 13, 2010, said, “It has been over five years and the investigators
have not even identified the masterminds. There have been major lapses in the
investigation. So it is clear that the state itself is not serious about
investigation.”
Sandeep said
that about a month-and-a-half ago, he sent all details of the case to
“pgportal.gov.in”, a public grievances redressal portal launched by PM Modi. He
said he got a reply saying “Your grievance has been registered vide
registration number PMOPG/E/2015/0119691. Please quote the same in your future
correspondence.”
“There is no
progress further,” Sandeep said.
“So I feel
what PM Modi said is more of a political speech. I have not heard the PM making
any mention about the attacks on RTI activists. The state has failed to protect
RTI activists. Even after 10 years of the RTI, a massive change in approach of
the government administrative officers is needed,” said Sandeep.
He pointed
out that a special team of CBI probing the Satish Shetty murder case had
demanded infrastructure and manpower from the state, but the state government
was delaying its response.
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