Neha Shukla | TNN
Lucknow: To Aishwarya,an eight years old,RTI is an Act that can work
wonders.Especially since it helped her to bring to the notice of civic
authorities,the presence of a garbage disposal site in front of her
school.Not only this.The little one feels the Act has done the
expected rectifying the wrong for her.They (those who were dumping
garbage) have stopped throwing it there, she shared more than happily.
Aishwarya is a student of Class III of a school in Rajajipuram in
Lucknow.The sight of a dumping ground right across the main gate of
her school was distressing for her each time she passed by.So much so
that she wrote to the chief ministers office requesting her to get the
site removed from the place.There was a swine flu scare then and our
school had asked us to wear masks, she said.
But seeing stray dogs and pigs loitering in the dump scared me, she said.
The girl raised the issue with her parents on a lot of occasions.But
even they could not provide any satisfactory explanation for the
existence of a garbage disposal site close to her school.It was then
that she wrote to the CM.In my letter,I only requested her to
interfere, said Aishwarya.But her letter did not fetch any response
and we made her file the RTI, said her mother,Urvashi Sharma.
Aishwarya wrote a three-point application to the public information
officer (PIO) of the chief ministers office seeking an answer to why
the garbage is being dumped in front of her school.Her handwritten
application had questioned the government on who would own the
responsibility if any one of us gets an infection from the discarded
waste.
It is here that the RTIs responsegiving machinery let down the
girl.Though authorities have shared the information on the site,she is
still to get the answers to her questions.Six months after she sent
the application to the CMs office,it has been forwarded to the Lucknow
Municipal Corporation (LMC) for doing the needful.
And,LMC has informed the girl that a modern garbage disposal site was
built at the place by Awas Vikas Parishad.Authorities have already
taken note of the fact that the site is now close to a school and
hence,dumping of garbage on the site has been stopped.However,it is
the construction at the place which is blocking the trucks of rubbish
removal department to reach the spot and remove the garbage,said the
LMC.
Thus,in effect,the problem persists with the garbage still on the site
and consequently,the threat to the health of school kids is also very
much there.In fact,the parents of the girl still await action on these
two counts viz removal of garbage and answer to their daughters query.
However,the only credit,if any,that goes to RTI is keeping the faith
of a kid in its efficiency.As a beaming Aishwarya said,I am happy that
the right to information has helped me. After her first brush with the
Act,she is already defining it as something that can make the wrong
thing right.
--
Urvashi Sharma
F-2376 , Rajajipuram , Lucknow
pin - 226017 , Uttar Pradesh INDIA
contact - 9369613513
@i$#w@ry@!
rti helpline-8081898081 , 9235169855
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