The Daily Star: Bangladesh: Monday, October 01,
2018.
The government is planning to increase
manpower of the Information Commission to facilitate people getting information
quickly, said Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu yesterday.
“The number of commissioners will also be
increased,” he said, adding that a proposal will be sent to the Prime
Minister's Office for its implementation.
The minister was addressing a discussion
marking “International Day for the Universal Access to Information”, organised
by Information Commission at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Since 2016, the day
has been observed worldwide on September 28.
Inu said the Right to Information (RTI)
Act has empowered people to make the government and its executive division
accountable.
“The government uses laws that are
related to penal code, applied against the countrymen. But the RTI act is
different as it gives power to people to use it against the government,” he
said.
The minister also requested all not to
misuse information.
Terming the RTI act a revolutionary one,
Convener of Right to Information Forum Shaheen Anam said the act enables people
to apply their rights as citizens.
She encouraged all to seek more
information from the government for the sake of good governance.
“We have numerous examples of how poor
people get benefitted using the RTI act,” she added.
Although it has been said again and again
that information cannot not be suppressed except in some special circumstances,
respective officers often try not to give proper information to people, she
said.
Asking people to use the RTI act
vigorously, Chief Information Commissioner Martuza Ahmed said people are yet to
reap the full benefit of the law, even after 10 years since its formulation.
Information commissioners Suraiya Begum
and Nepal Chandra Sarker also addressed the discussion.
The Information Commission also awarded
government employees for serving people by providing them with information.
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