The Hindu: Mumbai: Sunday, January 21, 2018.
Says the
organisation misrepresented the civic body
The Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday issued a statement in response to a
press conference held by activists on Friday with regards to Praja Foundation’s
persona non grata status. The BMC had declined to provide information sought by
the foundation under the RTI Act.
The BMC said
Praja Foundation has defamed it “Everybody has the right to criticise and talk
about it if there is something wrong with the BMC. However, it is not
appropriate if a reputable institution is misrepresenting the organisation by
making a broad interpretation of the affairs of the civic body,” said the
statement.
‘Info on
website’
The statement
also spoke about the issues with Praja Foundation’s findings on malnourishment
in municipal schools and the government-run tuberculosis programme, DOTS. “In
both cases, Praja Foundation has not taken into account changes in methodology
during the time frame of the data, thus giving an incorrect picture. We had
asked them to clarify this in writing, but they did not consider the points we
made and stuck to their own stand. Further, Praja Foundation asks for the same
information under RTI that is already available on our website,” it said.
Praja
Foundation members said they had responded to the BMC’s queries in July last
year. “We have not received any intimation from them regarding this till
November, when they sent another letter with the same queries. It did not
mention our response in July,” said Milind Mhaske, Project Director at Praja
Foundation.
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