Daily Pioneer: Raipur: Thursday,
03 December 2020.
The evasive response from southern divisional forest of Kalahandi drew sharp reactions from RTI activists when it asked information about past three years expenditure made by the officials under various schemes.
RTI convener Bindu Mahanand allegedly told mediapersons on Wednesday here at Bhawanipatna that when Ghasiram Jagat, a BPL category person, sought the documents, the forest officials asked them to pay Rs 2,23,234 for 1,16,867 pages. Another convenor Anjan Rath said that when the Odisha Government has ruled that information should be provided free of cost to the BPL category, the Forest department violated the rules to suppress its loopholes. “How a BPL can pay such a large amount whereas he should be provided information free of cost,” he asked.
The activists alleged large scale corruption related to the labour employment and plantation committed in the Forest department. Another RTI activist Sanjib Satpathy said they have appealed to the higher authorities regarding the issue. They also threatened to hold dharna if information is not provided free of cost.
The evasive response from southern divisional forest of Kalahandi drew sharp reactions from RTI activists when it asked information about past three years expenditure made by the officials under various schemes.
RTI convener Bindu Mahanand allegedly told mediapersons on Wednesday here at Bhawanipatna that when Ghasiram Jagat, a BPL category person, sought the documents, the forest officials asked them to pay Rs 2,23,234 for 1,16,867 pages. Another convenor Anjan Rath said that when the Odisha Government has ruled that information should be provided free of cost to the BPL category, the Forest department violated the rules to suppress its loopholes. “How a BPL can pay such a large amount whereas he should be provided information free of cost,” he asked.
The activists alleged large scale corruption related to the labour employment and plantation committed in the Forest department. Another RTI activist Sanjib Satpathy said they have appealed to the higher authorities regarding the issue. They also threatened to hold dharna if information is not provided free of cost.
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