And how much did CM spend in Japan?
Chief Minister Narendra Modi wants the Centre to explain money spent on Sonia Gandhi’s trips abroad, but state govt does not share details of his Japan trip; it also has not responded to an activist’s RTI plea for five years.
Hemington James, Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Wednesday, October 03, 2012 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201210032012100303012773921dad40c/And-how-much-did-CM-spend-in-Japan.html)
Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday claimed that the Union government spent Rs 1,880 crore on personal foreign trips of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the last three years, and asked the prime minister to explain the expenses. But when it comes to his own foreign visit or movements in the state, he apparently is adamant on not sharing the details.
The state government has thwarted an Amdavadi, who filed an RTI to get the details of Modi’s Japan visit, and tossed his application from one department to the other for the information. Another social activist has been waiting for five years for information on Modi and his ministers’ travelling expenses during “women empowerment conventions” sought through an RTI application on July 18, 2007. Her complaint is pending before the chief information commissioner (CIO) of the state for almost four years.
FIFTY-DAY WAIT FOR INFO
Bharatsinh Zala, who works for NGO Cranti (Citizen Resource and Action Initiative), filed an application on August 13 under the Right to Information Act seeking details of Modi’s fiveday visit to Japan from July 23. It is 50 days but he has not received any relevant answer even though the government should reply to him in 30 days under statutory provisions. The only answer he has got is the link http://indiacode. nic.in.
Zala filed his RTI plea with the public information officer (PIO) of the General Administrative Department (GAD) at Sachivalay in Gandhinagar. On August 20, he got a copy of the letter from PIO of GAD which was addressed to the PIO of Department of Mines and Industries for ‘necessary action’. It has been more 40 days, but Zala says he has not got any reply from the department.
BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH
On August 30, he received a copy of the letter from PIO of GAD which was forwarded to the PIO of IndextB of Udyog Bhavan which stated that as the RTI does not come under GAD it is being forwarded to this department. On September 7, Zala received copy of a letter from PIO of GAD which was forwarded to PIO of officer on special duty, G-branch, GAD, which stated that the “point number 8 of Zala’s RTI (details of the constitution that allows the chief ministers of states for foreign visit) comes under you, take ‘necessary action’.” On September 18 he received copy of a letter from Ashok Dave, PIO, OSD and deputy secretary (services) which gave him the link of India Code-legislative department.
Unsatisfied with the reply, Zala filed an appeal with the appeal officer, additional secretary, services, GAD. On September 25, he got a letter from Dhananjay Dwivedi, appeal officer and additional secretary (services), GAD, stating that he had been given information sought. It further stated that as far as other points of his RTI are concerned, they do not come under the jurisdiction of the PIO, hence he need not give Zala the answers.
Social activist Bharatsinh Zala
“On one hand the chief minister has been criticising the Centre and Congress president Sonia Gandhi citing her foreign tour, but on the other his own departments do not provide information to the public which they have the right to know. I filed the RTI to know about the expenses and who paid for it, but I think the government does not have any answer to my queries,” Zala told Mirror.
10,000 PLEAS PENDING
Harnesh Pandya, an RTI activist who runs NGO Janpath, said, “The implementation of RTI Act is very poor in Gujarat. PIOs here need to be trained to make them understand the sensitivity of situations. People do not get proper reply in the stipulated duration. It takes two to four years to get replies.
Nearly 10,000 RTI appeals and complaints are lying unattended with various departments.” Vinod Pandya, another RTI activist, said, “The government is hiding details in many matters. Details are being given very late and very little. Cases languish for years in the commission and then nothing happens. Officials are taking RTI very lightly, and they are not scared of any action because of the weak system. There is no penalty in practice so there is revenue loss, too."
‘RULE APPLIES TO YOU, TOO’
Meanwhile , Dr Trupti Shah, a Vadodara-based social worker has written a letter to Modi, reminding him that the rule of sharing information applies to his government, too. “Please note, in your case the information was asked in the year 2007. Five years have elapsed and till today information about travelling expenses to 27 places for the government’s ‘Women’s Empowerment Sammelans’ by you and other ministers has not been provided to me,” Dr Shah said in a letter faxed to Modi on Tuesday.
“In this context I would also like to mention that no information has been provided to me regarding the expenses incurred by you and your ministers for the government program called ‘Sadbhavana Mission’ dated 17-18-19 September 2011 for which an RTI application has been filed by me and fellow activist Rohit Prajapati. Since information was not provided to us, we were forced to file a complaint on 20- 12-2011 and now our Complaint No. 610/2011-2012 is pending for hearing because of lack of staff and number of information commissioners in the state,” she wrote. “I hope that at least now you will direct your office to collect the information from the concerned government departments and provide it to me after five years, in response to my RTI Application dated 18-07-2007.”
Hemington James, Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Wednesday, October 03, 2012 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201210032012100303012773921dad40c/And-how-much-did-CM-spend-in-Japan.html)
Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday claimed that the Union government spent Rs 1,880 crore on personal foreign trips of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the last three years, and asked the prime minister to explain the expenses. But when it comes to his own foreign visit or movements in the state, he apparently is adamant on not sharing the details.
The state government has thwarted an Amdavadi, who filed an RTI to get the details of Modi’s Japan visit, and tossed his application from one department to the other for the information. Another social activist has been waiting for five years for information on Modi and his ministers’ travelling expenses during “women empowerment conventions” sought through an RTI application on July 18, 2007. Her complaint is pending before the chief information commissioner (CIO) of the state for almost four years.
FIFTY-DAY WAIT FOR INFO
Bharatsinh Zala, who works for NGO Cranti (Citizen Resource and Action Initiative), filed an application on August 13 under the Right to Information Act seeking details of Modi’s fiveday visit to Japan from July 23. It is 50 days but he has not received any relevant answer even though the government should reply to him in 30 days under statutory provisions. The only answer he has got is the link http://indiacode. nic.in.
Zala filed his RTI plea with the public information officer (PIO) of the General Administrative Department (GAD) at Sachivalay in Gandhinagar. On August 20, he got a copy of the letter from PIO of GAD which was addressed to the PIO of Department of Mines and Industries for ‘necessary action’. It has been more 40 days, but Zala says he has not got any reply from the department.
BEATING ABOUT THE BUSH
On August 30, he received a copy of the letter from PIO of GAD which was forwarded to the PIO of IndextB of Udyog Bhavan which stated that as the RTI does not come under GAD it is being forwarded to this department. On September 7, Zala received copy of a letter from PIO of GAD which was forwarded to PIO of officer on special duty, G-branch, GAD, which stated that the “point number 8 of Zala’s RTI (details of the constitution that allows the chief ministers of states for foreign visit) comes under you, take ‘necessary action’.” On September 18 he received copy of a letter from Ashok Dave, PIO, OSD and deputy secretary (services) which gave him the link of India Code-legislative department.
Unsatisfied with the reply, Zala filed an appeal with the appeal officer, additional secretary, services, GAD. On September 25, he got a letter from Dhananjay Dwivedi, appeal officer and additional secretary (services), GAD, stating that he had been given information sought. It further stated that as far as other points of his RTI are concerned, they do not come under the jurisdiction of the PIO, hence he need not give Zala the answers.
Social activist Bharatsinh Zala
“On one hand the chief minister has been criticising the Centre and Congress president Sonia Gandhi citing her foreign tour, but on the other his own departments do not provide information to the public which they have the right to know. I filed the RTI to know about the expenses and who paid for it, but I think the government does not have any answer to my queries,” Zala told Mirror.
10,000 PLEAS PENDING
Harnesh Pandya, an RTI activist who runs NGO Janpath, said, “The implementation of RTI Act is very poor in Gujarat. PIOs here need to be trained to make them understand the sensitivity of situations. People do not get proper reply in the stipulated duration. It takes two to four years to get replies.
Nearly 10,000 RTI appeals and complaints are lying unattended with various departments.” Vinod Pandya, another RTI activist, said, “The government is hiding details in many matters. Details are being given very late and very little. Cases languish for years in the commission and then nothing happens. Officials are taking RTI very lightly, and they are not scared of any action because of the weak system. There is no penalty in practice so there is revenue loss, too."
‘RULE APPLIES TO YOU, TOO’
Meanwhile , Dr Trupti Shah, a Vadodara-based social worker has written a letter to Modi, reminding him that the rule of sharing information applies to his government, too. “Please note, in your case the information was asked in the year 2007. Five years have elapsed and till today information about travelling expenses to 27 places for the government’s ‘Women’s Empowerment Sammelans’ by you and other ministers has not been provided to me,” Dr Shah said in a letter faxed to Modi on Tuesday.
“In this context I would also like to mention that no information has been provided to me regarding the expenses incurred by you and your ministers for the government program called ‘Sadbhavana Mission’ dated 17-18-19 September 2011 for which an RTI application has been filed by me and fellow activist Rohit Prajapati. Since information was not provided to us, we were forced to file a complaint on 20- 12-2011 and now our Complaint No. 610/2011-2012 is pending for hearing because of lack of staff and number of information commissioners in the state,” she wrote. “I hope that at least now you will direct your office to collect the information from the concerned government departments and provide it to me after five years, in response to my RTI Application dated 18-07-2007.”
