RTI activists face shortage of IPO-NORTHLINES

NORTHLINES, 02/JUNE/2012  http://www.thenorthlines.com/newsdet.aspx?q=52612

Jyoti Sangral  

Jammu, 

While government is claiming that efforts are being made to create awareness about the Right to Information (RTI) act across the state, information seekers here are facing the shortage of Indian Postal Orders (IPOs) mandatory before filing their applications under the Act. 

As per the procedure, one has to deposit a fee with an RTI application to get the required information from the department concerned. But in Jammu, many of the post offices have no stock of these IPOs each costing Rs. 10, which are fixed with the application. In many cases officials at the post office are not even aware about the RTI Act and how an application is filed.

"The IPOs of Rs. 10 have been out of stock for past few weeks. Despite several requests, we have not yet got the supply. Number of people daily return empty handed," said the official of India Post. 

An RTI activist, Amit Sharma alleged, "The public is facing hardship in filing applications, as the IPOs are not available in the post offices and those seeking information have to go to banks for getting drafts to seek any info". 

He added that the IPOs, which are the best and the cheapest method to seek information under the RTI Act, should be provided to the people. 

Many of the activists who want to get information from the departments alleged that the process of getting info is also quite cumbersome and at times they have to wait for months together to get data. 

RTI has assumed great significance in the present scenario in the country. Although the Right to Information Act, 2004 has provided an window of opportunity to the people to get information about the working of the government agencies, but still much more needs to be done in the interest of the people in Jammu and Kashmir. 

"The act has power and potential to introduce serious accountability and transparency into the system. It has its own legitimacy in the disposal of public grievances, but government needs to provide necessary tools to the masses", said an activist Lalit Kumar. 

Though J&K was first state to introduce the act but it is still lagging behind in the implementation of RTI, mainly due to the lack of awareness among the masses. 

As per the data so far nearly 7000 applications have been filed by various organisations and individuals in different departments in the state.