Times of India: Mumbai: Tuesday, December 15, 2015.
The Prime
Minister's Office (PMO) has virtually stonewalled a Right to Information (RTI)
query seeking details of staff and expenditure at the Prime Minister's
bungalow.
Mumbai-based
RTI activist Mansoor Darvesh sought information on the number of staff at the
bungalow, number of private secretaries, cars for the PM and other staff as
well as drivers, safaiwalas and telephone operators for the bungalow, and
salaries drawn by the staff each month. He also asked for the amount spent on
electricity and telephone bills and water charges, as well as expenditure on
food and stay for guests.
He wanted to
know the total amount spent on all heads he had asked for between June 1, 2014
and May 31, 2015, which, according to the PMO, is information that's "too
vague and wide".
The PMO
transferred the query on the number of cars to the Special Protection Group
(SPG), which replied that it was exempted from the RTI's purview. Activists
said there was no need for the PMO to transfer the query to the SPG instead of
simply replying to it. "The SPG was invoked to deny information sought on
land purchased by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The same practice is being followed
under the National Democratic Alliance," rued RTI expert Venkatesh Nayak
of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
While the PMO
said it did not incur expenditure on stay of guests, it went on to say the PM's
staff worked at his office and residence. "As such, the question of
providing information about staff working at PM's residence separately does not
arise (sic)," said the PMO while denying him the information. The same
reason was used to deny information on the number of drivers. The PMO said
staff car drivers work for the PM's office and residence. "Telephone
operators at the PM's bungalow are deployed by MTNL. As such the information
sought does not form part of the record held by this office," continued
the PMO's reply. Safaiwalas at the PM's bungalow are deployed by the Central
Public Works Department (CPWD), said the PMO, adding that it did not have records
on the information sought on them.
Information
sought on electricity and telephone bills and water charges was forwarded to
the urban development ministry, which forwarded it to the CPWD. The final reply
that Darvesh received was that there was no separate metre for the PM's
bungalow.
Darvesh was
disappointed with the responses to his queries given the PM's promise of
transparency. As a citizen who has filed 100 RTI applications, he saw no
difference between the United Progressive Alliance and NDA when it came to
transparency.
Instead of
providing an answer to the question on private secretaries, the PMO said
information on staff working at the PMO was on the PM's website, and provided a
link to the site, leaving it to Darvesh figure out the answer. This was also
the case with the question on staff salaries. "What if a person can't look
up the website?" former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi
asked.
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