Times of India: Hyderabad: Sunday, August 14, 2016.
A Right to
Information (RTI) activist has claimed of being made to run from pillar to post
for obtaining data on refugees living in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts he
sought around eight months ago.
According to
activist Syed Qutubuddin, the information was requested from the authorities
concerned so as to study the conditions of refugees especially Rohingyas living in and around the city. The delay, he said, reflects the attitude of the
government in providing information to ordinary citizens.
The RTI query
which requested information about the numbers of refugees, 'interventions' of
the state governments and how it has been liaising with the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees, among others was first addressed to the office of the
chief secretary of the Telangana government last December. It was later
forwarded to the home department under relevant sections of the Right to
Information Act of 2009.
After the
stipulated time, the RTI activist filed the first appeal with the appellate authority
of the home department in March. "A letter dated January 18 from the
general administration department (GAD) informed me that the query was
forwarded to the home department. However, despite the first appeal, so far no
information from this department has come forth. Not even a single statistic,
leave alone responses to other queries," he said.
When no
details were received, Qutubuddin approached the AP Information Commission to
file the next appeal. In a letter dated July 19, the commission then directed
the public information officer and appellant authority the office of the
principal secretary of the Home Department to appear before it for a hearing.
In the letter, the commission directed the respondents to "file copies of
information furnished to the appellant".
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