New Indian Express: S. Lalitha: Bangaluru: Saturday, December 30, 2017.
Homemaker M Varalakshmi is desperate to get a caste certificate for her 3-year-old daughter N Nithyashri. For, if this vital certificate is submitted at a local school, her little one may get free education under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, besides various benefits in the child’s future.
But what really blocks a better future for her daughter is the touts ruling the roost at the 6th floor of Kandaya Bhavan on KG Road, where the Bangalore North Tahsildar’s sub-office is located. Despite applying for an OBC (Other Backward Classes) certificate with all the required documents, the family has been denied it so far.
When Varalakshmi walked into the Tahsildar office on October 9 and made enquiries on how to go about applying for a caste certificate for her daughter, 11-year-old son N Kishore and husband G Nethaji, she was directed to a counter. “I was told to hand over `2,000 by a person there if I wanted the certificates for all of them, “ she said.“I returned home as I felt this was a big amount for the certificates,” Varalakshmi said. Later, she consulted an RTI activist in her area, Kalidas Reddy, who insisted that no payment was required for the caste certificate.
Reddy told The New Indian Express, “I accompanied her to the office on October 16. Since every application needs to be filed only under the Sakala scheme, we paid `15 which is the cost of the application and submitted the form. We were also handed over a typed acknowledgement letter bearing a Sakala number.”
Three days later, her husband received a call asking him to come to the office at 3 pm the same day. “I told the family not to go. The phone number is given only for the officials to inform us whether the application is accepted or rejected. No one has the right to call and ask anyone to come over,” the activist informed.Ten days later, a person visited the area and since the house was locked, made enquiries about the family with the neighbours.
“This is a regular verification check mandated by the government when issuing important certificates,” he informed. Some days later, the family received information that their application had been rejected, Varalakshmi recalled. She showed this reporter the Aadhaar card and Transfer certificate submitted at the office.
Unwilling to give up, the activist filed two RTI applications seeking to know why the application was rejected as well as details on the number of middlemen working in the office. “Till date, there is no response,” he said.
Reddy stressed that if Varalakshmi had paid the amount demanded, she would have got the certificate in a week’s time. Asked about the issue, Deputy Tahsildar B K Chandrashekhar assured this reporter he would look into the applications and get back.
I used RTI to get my document: Gajendra
A few citizens have now woken up to the power of the RTI. Freelance market researcher Gajendra was trying to apply for a ‘Family Tree’ or generalogical certificate at the same office six months ago.
“I was extremely shocked to hear that I would have to pay `5,000 if I wanted it.” Gajendra paid `20 and filed an application and returned home. “Some days later, a person landed at my door for verification and demanded `2,000 from me. He called himself a gram sevak or case worker. When I asked him for details, he abruptly left,” Gajendra recalls. With no sign of the certificate reaching him, Gajendra filed an RTI application seeking to know the status of the application. “I received the certificate shortly after,” he recalls. “The Revenue Inspectors in Tahsildar’s offices rule there. They send their own agents to houses to demand bribes from people. This must be exposed at all costs,” he demanded.
Trying to get rid of middlemen: K Mathai
Sakala Mission director K Mathai said the menace of middlemen in government offices was definitely prevalent. “We have received several complaints regarding middlemen trying to fleece people regularly from Bengaluru as well as other districts. We are going all out to strengthen Sakala everywhere. We conducted inspections at eight different offices on Wednesday too,” he told Express.
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