Right to Information is Becoming a Mockery in Udaipur
Right to Information is Becoming a Mockery in Udaipur
Historically, it has been acknowledged that the powerful and rich have always had a strong control over the state apparatus. Control over information has been one of the ways in which the elite have maintained a stronghold. The Right to Information (RTI) Act is considered a tool to empower the ordinary citizen, to enable citizens to get information and use the information as a powerful weapon for transparency and accountability. However, like many other useful policy instruments, the RTI has failed miserably at the implementation stage. The information-providing institutions and individuals are not letting go the control that they have enjoyed. Obviously, they are making all out efforts to discourage people from making use of the constitutional provisions under the act. In fact, many of the citizens and civil society groups, who are attempting to seek crucial information, are being painted as a threat to law and order! This article attempts to describe the apathy towards the implementation of the RTI Act while pointing to the challenges that the common people must overcome to make use of their rights under the Act.
Mr Mohan Lal Damor, Tehsil Committee member of Jagruk Yuva Sangathan (JYS)1, a youth organization based in Kherwara Tehsil of Udaipur District, has been doing his share of job of demanding accountability. Mohan approached the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat in Kherwara Tehsil, requesting him in writing to give him information regarding the ongoing public works in the Panchayat. Mr Mohan has asked for information regarding the anicuts which have been reported as constructed, roads, the list of “job cards” issued, and information about a big bridge that cost about Rs. 17 lakh. After the pressure was mounted, one anicut was built from scratch in a matter of days. However, Mr. Mohan and JYS colleague believe that many of the other structures have been billed fraudulently without any construction whatsoever on the ground.
However, the secretary initially refused to accept the application under the Right to Information Act by citing some frivolous reasons. After Mohan Damor did not get a satisfactory response from the secretary, he moved his application to the Block Development Officer of Kherwara Block on 2nd June 2008. The Block Development Officer issued an order to the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat to provide the information requested by Mohan Lal Damor. Before giving the information to Mr Mohan, the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat informed Mr Naveen, (who is the husband of the Sarpanch of this Panchayat), that Mohan Lal Damor had submitted an application under the RTI Act, seeking information about the Panchayat affairs. Mr Naveen and his coterie threatened Mr Mohan and his family members, and threatened them of dire consequences if they insisted on seeking information regarding public works. Nevertheless, Mohan Lal Damor did not get any information from the Panchayat. He then moved the application to Zilla Parishad (District Council) on July 2nd 2008 where the officials issued another stricture to the secretary of Sundar Panchayat to provide the information requested by Mr. Mohan. Again, the secretary failed to follow through the instructions issued by district government authorities. After several rounds of efforts, Mr Mohan sent his application to the State Information Commission on August 23rd 2008. The appeal number of this application is 1311/08. The State Information Commission has given November 6th 2008 as the date to hear Mr Mohan’s case.
Meanwhile, the middle-men associated with the Secretary and Mr Naveen have been threatening Mohan Lal Damor in order to cow him into withdrawing the application. The youth team members of JYS approached Mr. Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), the organization that has been involved in formulating the Right to Information Act. Mr. Dey had a telephonic conversation with the District Collector to raise Mr. Mohan’s case. Moreover, D.S. Paliwal, advisor to JYS, also met with the District Collector to update him of the situation. Again, the District Collector issued an order to the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat to provide information sought by Mr Mohan. Incredibly, the Secretary failed yet again to comply with district collector’s orders.
The panchayat secretary has not only refused to provide the information being sought but in the process he has also defied multiple public authorities. This case clearly and simply shows that the volume of corruption practices in Sundara Panchayat of Kherwara Block is significant enough for the Panchayat secretary to risk his job by ignoring orders from various public authorities. The school recently constructed in Mithi Mahoodi village of this Panchayat is also suspected to have been used as an opportunity to siphon of public funds.
Kherwara Block of Udaipur District comes under Schedule 5 of the Constitution, and therefore, also under PESA (the Panchayats {Extension to the Scheduled Areas} Act 1996). The majority of the population is tribal, or the indigenous people. However, not a single village in the tehsil has declared ‘Self Rule’ as provided for in PESA. One wonders why the NGOs working in the area are not promoting PESA. Near 80 percent of the population in the tehsil is tribal, and the rest are SCs, Patels, Muslims and other castes. Sundera is one of the Gram Panchayas which has experienced more than 25 years of rule by one family! The head of that family is Naveen Chand Nanoma, and he was Sarpanch for a long time and Pradhan for a few years. He is a powerful Panchayat Samiti (Block Committee) Member at this time, and is also the best friend of the Chairperson of the District Council, Kewal Chand Labana.
We can understand the power of Mr. Naveen Chand by seeing the result of the last Assembly elections, which was influenced significantly by him and Kewal Chand Labana, who supported the BJP Candidate Nana Lal Ahari, the existing MLA. Mr. Naveen still treats the people as his subjects, and behaves as if he has the entire administration of Kherwara is in his pocket. His family members are connected to politically influential people at all levels.Both the major political parties are supporting this corrupt family. Administrative officials are under pressure, including the CEO of the District Council (Zila Parishad). This extended family is approaching the BJP State leadership and the Congress and are conspiring at the ground level about how they can use and consolidate their positions.
In such a situation, the Panchayat Secretary sent a registered letter to Mohan Lal and ordered him to deposit Rs. 41,000 to get the copies of the records of the Panchayat Sundera!! Meanwhile the president of the Jagruk Yuwa Sangathan Shanker Parmar got a copy of the public works undertaken through the “MLA quota” funds. Double expenditure is shown for one work. At the same time, the President of the JYS Udaipur City has also applied to the CEO of the District Council, Udaipur, for the list of the work done at Sundera. The concerned officials simply forwarded the order to the lower staff, in this case, the Sundera Panchayat Secretary. There is a lot of opposition, but the Collector’s attitude is favorable, and the people of the village are enthusiastic.
It is very clear that the Congress and BJP are not happy with the prospects of the youth and the people of this tehsil taking control of public affairs and they are supporting a corrupt family to maintain their own vested interests. The officials are doing official ‘khanapurty’(routine). The people of the area are keenly watching how things unfold. Threats to the youth leaders are continuing to pur in and the youth team is facing acute economic, social and political pressure. The JYS is creating an example in the area, which hopefully will boost the morale of the people to mobilize and fight against the corrupt network of influential people in the region ●
AN APEAL
We request you to support us by all means possible, including dispatching a letter to the District Collector, asking that –
1. The records of the Sundera Gram Panchayat being asked for, be brought to the Collector’s office so that the applicant, Mr. Mohan Lal Damor, can get the information he has applied for
2. The information (photocopies) should be provided free of cost as per section 7(3) of the RTI Act as more than 30 days have passed since the application was filed.
3. The collector should Monitor and Check whether the public works reported in the records have actually been undertaken.
Please write to:
Mr. Kuldeep Ranka ( I.A.S. ) District Collector, Collectorate Campous, Udaipur (Rajasthan), PIN- 313001
E-mail- dm-uda-rj@nic.in rankak@ias.nic.in
Fax- 0294-2410838 .Telephone- (0) 0294-2491016 ( R ) 0294-2419594
Mobile- 9413364002
Please send us a copy of your letter/mails. We are eagerly awaiting your response and solidarity.
With Best Regards,
Jagruk Yuwa Sangathan
c/o D.S.Paliwal
1 / 576, Hanumaan Colony,
Kharol Colony, Fatehpura, Udaipur (Rajasthan).
E-mail: jagruk2002@gmail.com Mobile- 93525 09395 (R) 0294-245 2010
1 Please see the blog - http://yuva-sangathan.blogspot.com
Historically, it has been acknowledged that the powerful and rich have always had a strong control over the state apparatus. Control over information has been one of the ways in which the elite have maintained a stronghold. The Right to Information (RTI) Act is considered a tool to empower the ordinary citizen, to enable citizens to get information and use the information as a powerful weapon for transparency and accountability. However, like many other useful policy instruments, the RTI has failed miserably at the implementation stage. The information-providing institutions and individuals are not letting go the control that they have enjoyed. Obviously, they are making all out efforts to discourage people from making use of the constitutional provisions under the act. In fact, many of the citizens and civil society groups, who are attempting to seek crucial information, are being painted as a threat to law and order! This article attempts to describe the apathy towards the implementation of the RTI Act while pointing to the challenges that the common people must overcome to make use of their rights under the Act.
Mr Mohan Lal Damor, Tehsil Committee member of Jagruk Yuva Sangathan (JYS)1, a youth organization based in Kherwara Tehsil of Udaipur District, has been doing his share of job of demanding accountability. Mohan approached the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat in Kherwara Tehsil, requesting him in writing to give him information regarding the ongoing public works in the Panchayat. Mr Mohan has asked for information regarding the anicuts which have been reported as constructed, roads, the list of “job cards” issued, and information about a big bridge that cost about Rs. 17 lakh. After the pressure was mounted, one anicut was built from scratch in a matter of days. However, Mr. Mohan and JYS colleague believe that many of the other structures have been billed fraudulently without any construction whatsoever on the ground.
However, the secretary initially refused to accept the application under the Right to Information Act by citing some frivolous reasons. After Mohan Damor did not get a satisfactory response from the secretary, he moved his application to the Block Development Officer of Kherwara Block on 2nd June 2008. The Block Development Officer issued an order to the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat to provide the information requested by Mohan Lal Damor. Before giving the information to Mr Mohan, the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat informed Mr Naveen, (who is the husband of the Sarpanch of this Panchayat), that Mohan Lal Damor had submitted an application under the RTI Act, seeking information about the Panchayat affairs. Mr Naveen and his coterie threatened Mr Mohan and his family members, and threatened them of dire consequences if they insisted on seeking information regarding public works. Nevertheless, Mohan Lal Damor did not get any information from the Panchayat. He then moved the application to Zilla Parishad (District Council) on July 2nd 2008 where the officials issued another stricture to the secretary of Sundar Panchayat to provide the information requested by Mr. Mohan. Again, the secretary failed to follow through the instructions issued by district government authorities. After several rounds of efforts, Mr Mohan sent his application to the State Information Commission on August 23rd 2008. The appeal number of this application is 1311/08. The State Information Commission has given November 6th 2008 as the date to hear Mr Mohan’s case.
Meanwhile, the middle-men associated with the Secretary and Mr Naveen have been threatening Mohan Lal Damor in order to cow him into withdrawing the application. The youth team members of JYS approached Mr. Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), the organization that has been involved in formulating the Right to Information Act. Mr. Dey had a telephonic conversation with the District Collector to raise Mr. Mohan’s case. Moreover, D.S. Paliwal, advisor to JYS, also met with the District Collector to update him of the situation. Again, the District Collector issued an order to the Secretary of Sundera Panchayat to provide information sought by Mr Mohan. Incredibly, the Secretary failed yet again to comply with district collector’s orders.
The panchayat secretary has not only refused to provide the information being sought but in the process he has also defied multiple public authorities. This case clearly and simply shows that the volume of corruption practices in Sundara Panchayat of Kherwara Block is significant enough for the Panchayat secretary to risk his job by ignoring orders from various public authorities. The school recently constructed in Mithi Mahoodi village of this Panchayat is also suspected to have been used as an opportunity to siphon of public funds.
Kherwara Block of Udaipur District comes under Schedule 5 of the Constitution, and therefore, also under PESA (the Panchayats {Extension to the Scheduled Areas} Act 1996). The majority of the population is tribal, or the indigenous people. However, not a single village in the tehsil has declared ‘Self Rule’ as provided for in PESA. One wonders why the NGOs working in the area are not promoting PESA. Near 80 percent of the population in the tehsil is tribal, and the rest are SCs, Patels, Muslims and other castes. Sundera is one of the Gram Panchayas which has experienced more than 25 years of rule by one family! The head of that family is Naveen Chand Nanoma, and he was Sarpanch for a long time and Pradhan for a few years. He is a powerful Panchayat Samiti (Block Committee) Member at this time, and is also the best friend of the Chairperson of the District Council, Kewal Chand Labana.
We can understand the power of Mr. Naveen Chand by seeing the result of the last Assembly elections, which was influenced significantly by him and Kewal Chand Labana, who supported the BJP Candidate Nana Lal Ahari, the existing MLA. Mr. Naveen still treats the people as his subjects, and behaves as if he has the entire administration of Kherwara is in his pocket. His family members are connected to politically influential people at all levels.Both the major political parties are supporting this corrupt family. Administrative officials are under pressure, including the CEO of the District Council (Zila Parishad). This extended family is approaching the BJP State leadership and the Congress and are conspiring at the ground level about how they can use and consolidate their positions.
In such a situation, the Panchayat Secretary sent a registered letter to Mohan Lal and ordered him to deposit Rs. 41,000 to get the copies of the records of the Panchayat Sundera!! Meanwhile the president of the Jagruk Yuwa Sangathan Shanker Parmar got a copy of the public works undertaken through the “MLA quota” funds. Double expenditure is shown for one work. At the same time, the President of the JYS Udaipur City has also applied to the CEO of the District Council, Udaipur, for the list of the work done at Sundera. The concerned officials simply forwarded the order to the lower staff, in this case, the Sundera Panchayat Secretary. There is a lot of opposition, but the Collector’s attitude is favorable, and the people of the village are enthusiastic.
It is very clear that the Congress and BJP are not happy with the prospects of the youth and the people of this tehsil taking control of public affairs and they are supporting a corrupt family to maintain their own vested interests. The officials are doing official ‘khanapurty’(routine). The people of the area are keenly watching how things unfold. Threats to the youth leaders are continuing to pur in and the youth team is facing acute economic, social and political pressure. The JYS is creating an example in the area, which hopefully will boost the morale of the people to mobilize and fight against the corrupt network of influential people in the region ●
AN APEAL
We request you to support us by all means possible, including dispatching a letter to the District Collector, asking that –
1. The records of the Sundera Gram Panchayat being asked for, be brought to the Collector’s office so that the applicant, Mr. Mohan Lal Damor, can get the information he has applied for
2. The information (photocopies) should be provided free of cost as per section 7(3) of the RTI Act as more than 30 days have passed since the application was filed.
3. The collector should Monitor and Check whether the public works reported in the records have actually been undertaken.
Please write to:
Mr. Kuldeep Ranka ( I.A.S. ) District Collector, Collectorate Campous, Udaipur (Rajasthan), PIN- 313001
E-mail- dm-uda-rj@nic.in rankak@ias.nic.in
Fax- 0294-2410838 .Telephone- (0) 0294-2491016 ( R ) 0294-2419594
Mobile- 9413364002
Please send us a copy of your letter/mails. We are eagerly awaiting your response and solidarity.
With Best Regards,
Jagruk Yuwa Sangathan
c/o D.S.Paliwal
1 / 576, Hanumaan Colony,
Kharol Colony, Fatehpura, Udaipur (Rajasthan).
E-mail: jagruk2002@gmail.com Mobile- 93525 09395 (R) 0294-245 2010
1 Please see the blog - http://yuva-sangathan.blogspot.com
posted by JYS at
12:38 AM
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