The Telegraph: Nuapada: Monday, March 12, 2018.
A man had to
mortgage his land to arrange Rs 31,000 he was told to pay to get information
under the Right To Information (RTI) Act here.
Madhab Majhi,
a panchayat ward member of Tarbod in the district, had to mortgage a piece of
land to arrange money for payment towards the prescribed fee for information.
However,
though he has paid the fees two months ago he has not been provided with the
information. He has been threatened with dire consequence if he continued to
seek the information.
He alleged
that police had not acted against the accused despite his compliants. He warned
of sitting on dharna from on March 15 if the culprits were not arrested.
Majhi had
asked for information on the MGNREGA works in Dharampur and Gohirapadar village
in 2016-17 under the RTI act.
Initially, he
had applied for the information at the Tarbod panchayat office. But as they
didn't provide him with it, he then moved Komna block office also to know about
the tube wells dug in the two villages. The RTI officer-in-charge of the block
allegedly asked Majhi to pay Rs 31,000 for the information.
"The
officer told me to pay Rs 31,000 for the information. I didn't have so much
money. I had to mortgage a piece of land to get the money. I paid the money on
January 1," he said.
Majhi said
even after paying the money, the information had not been provided.
"I am
yet to get the information I had sought. Instead, those who would be exposed by
the information are threatening me," he said.
On February
19, Majhi had gone to attend the panchayat meeting, where he was issued a death
threat. They had also beaten up his companion Paramananda Majhi.
The duo had
filed a complaint with the Komana police station.
Sub-divisional
police officer Bidyut Panda said the police would arrest the accused soon.
"Police
have been instructed to arrest the accused who are absconding," said
Panda.
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