Indian Express: Bengaluru: Saturday,
October 15, 2016.
To mark 11
years of the RTI Act coming into force, a city-based NGO, Volunteer For a Cause
(VFC), will file 111 RTI applications on various issues pertaining to local
governance, individual problems, social issues and infrastructure projects.
The RTI Act
entered the 12th year of implementation on October 12. M Surendran, founder of
VFC, said, “We are celebrating 11th anniversary as ‘RTI Diwas’ this Sunday. So,
we have decided to file 11 RTI applications on Sunday and the remaining 100
will be applied in two months.” He said they will also hold a free workshop for
citizens on how to use the RTI Act, on Sunday.
“When I was
working with Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption (IAC) movement as a
volunteer, I filed an RTI application regarding a damaged road in my
neighbourhood in BTM Layout. As soon as BBMP received my RTI query, civic
officials repaired the road, which was in poor condition for years. I was very
impressed with the result and started studying about this Act. And I realised
that RTI is an effective tool for citizens to fight for their rights,”
Surendran said.
Over the last
four years, volunteers of VFC have been conducting several RTI awareness camps
across the city. Now, VFC has nearly 150
volunteers, mostly techies. They are also involved in traffic awareness
campaigns, cleanliness drives, providing training for poor children and
differently-abled students. “We are also conducting awareness programmes for
corporates and college students on RTI Act to empower them. We are giving them
training on how to frame questions and also to file RTI queries with the right
department,” Surendran added. Those who wish to file RTI queries can contact
7259495547, 8892839840.
1.75 crore
RTI applications filed
According to
a recent study by NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, government
departments in Karnataka have received 20.73 lakh RTI applications between 2005
and 2015, the highest in the country after Maharashtra (46.26 lakh). From
10,014 RTIs in 2005 to 5.44 lakh in 2015, RTI has turned into an important tool
for the common man in the state for drafting changes across all spheres be
it over delayed pension or exposing scams and unscrupulous officials.
Across the
country, a total of 1.75 crore RTI applications have been filed with the
central and state governments during 2005-2015.
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