Monday, March 15, 2010

Survey at Government Offices - Loksatta CHC activity - 6th Mar 10

Dear All,

RTI is the one of the strongest weapons that the citizen in this country can ever get.
It is the easiest way to control and avoid corruption in the society and gives us a hope to dream for an honest country.

As someone rightly said,
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending that we aim for.


With this in mind, we, the Loksatta CHC(Citizen Help Centre) started a lot of activities with RTI as a key tool, which will benefit the society in multiple ways.As part of this, on Saturday ,the 6th March 2010,We did a survey at various government offices. Details below :

Purpose :The survey was primarily to check the implementation of the RTI Acts under sections 4(1)b and 5(1), (2), and 19(1).

Offices Visited :
1. Tahsildar office
2. MPDO ( Mandal Parishad Development Office)
3. GHMC - LB Nagar Circle
RTI Acts involved and the details : 4(1)b and 5(1), (2), and 19(1)


Information that needs to be displayed : Below information needs to be displayed as per the above acts,The handbook (which will contain the details about the office, the officers within, the employees' duties and responsibilities, their names, salaries and other primary information) and board at the office entrance(which will contain the details about the Public Information Officer, Assistant Public Information Officer and Appellate Authority's name, the office address, Phone numbers, Mobile numbers, Fax numbers, Email address)

Benefit : Transparency and Accountability(This will help people contact the right person with out any confusion and they will immediately understand whom to approach, in case of issues).

Observations:Only MPDO is having display board ( with nothing written on it ) and the remaining two have nothing to display at all.
We are filing petitions regarding the same and expecting a positive response from the concerned authorities.

Last activity update:
Couple of weeks back, after having visited all the hospitals in the Dilsukhnagar division to check whether they have displayed all Doctors' names, the fee taken for various ailments (local language ), and that the hospitals are registered to District Registering Authority (D.R.A.) , we found that majority of these hospitals have just ignored this point.
Petitions have been filed and it is still in progress at the moment.
We shall keep you posted on this.
Join us in these activities. Let us fight for our rights. Let us fight for a better society and a better nation.
Jai Hind.

Loksatta CHC Team
There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction

Friday, March 5, 2010

Success stories of RTI

Dear XXXX,

Finally I filed an RTI, for the gas connection, on the 5th December. On, 12th December, I got a letter in the morning, to my house, asking me to come to collect the gas.
I went there, this Saturday. Collected the gas, but they asked me to buy the gas stove. I had to. L.
Next I am planning to file an RTI, for a water connection which has been sanctioned at our village and which never came.
Will keep you all posted.

Regards,
XXXX
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Hi XXX,
RTI really worked from me.
I received my New HP Connection Today at the price of 2328/- (Without stove).
Thanks a lot for your help.
Thank you Once again…
XXXX

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Hi XXXX,
Finally I got my Indane Gas connection, without paying anything extra.
It was possible only by your constant guide.

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Hi all,
I got the gas connection within a week after filing RTI. This will not happen without your help........ Thanks to RTI...............
Regards,
XXXX

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Hi,
Just wanted to update all regarding the below request.
I registered a complaint against the agency on the HPCL website.
Immediately got an acknowledgement of the complaint, and next morning, an update from HPCL saying that the agency cannot force me to take a gas stove along with a gas connection.
HPCL forwarded the same mail to the agency also, and within minutes, I got a call from the agency asking me to come to their office next day to get the connection.
People at the agency were now very polite and cooperating, as compared to my experience earlier. They even requested me not to share this incident with others.
Sadly, there were 2 other folks present there who agreed to the agency’s terms and agreed to pay almost 5k+ for a connection.

Thanks to all of you for responding with suggestions and mails of support.