Help at hand to make RTI Act easier for common man
TNN, Jul 26, 2010, 04.53am IST
LUCKNOW: People who wish to seek information using Right to
Information (RTI) Act but do not know how to go about it have several
helping hands available now. RTI activists opened a resource centre in
Hazratganj last week to help RTI users. The applicants who are from
outside Lucknow can approach the Centre for help. Especially when they
want to know the status of their RTI applications pending with the
government departments or with the State Information Commission (SIC).
The volunteers at the Centre will track the status of the applications
and also inform the applicants about the same. The fee charged by the
Centre is currently only Rs 10, and even this is optional. Inaugurated
last week, it is too early to say how will the Centre fare. But the
RTI helpline which was started few months back has started receiving
calls from RTI users. "Most of them want to know simple things like
how to write an application," said activist Urvashi Sharma.
People can call up at 8081898081 and seek answers to their queries on
RTI. It could be anything from filing an application to finding
answers to the doubts about the use of the Act. The helpline is not a
toll-free number. It is functional between 8.00am to 10.00pm. Besides,
it only answers the queries made in either Hindi or English. But more
than the helpline number it is the online helpline
(aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com) which is getting good response from people.
"Sometimes we are unable to give a prompt response to people mailing
their queries to us, but we make sure that we provide them the
answers," said Sharma.
There is still very little awareness on the Act, though it has been
there for the past four years in Uttar Pradesh. Creating awareness on
the RTI Act has always been a prime concern and focus of the UP State
Information Commission (UPSIC) as well. The concise version of the
Act, a booklet popularly called `gutka', has been introduced by
commission to explain nitty-gritties of the Act. It explains to the
common man, how simple it is to file an RTI application. The booklet
has been published in Hindi. More so as the entire Act is available in
English, its translation in Hindi is more than needed for UP, where
maximum applicants are Hindi-speaking folks.
Anyone can obtain the booklet from the office of the PIO of the
commission or that of any of the information commissioners (ICs). The
booklet is available free of cost. The commission had published quite
a few of such booklets in the past, like 'Prashnotri' which explained
the procedures of disposal of an application and conditions under
which a PIO can be fined.
--
Urvashi Sharma
RTI Helpmail( Web Based )
aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com
rtihelpmail@gmail.com
Mobile Rti Helpline
8081898081
9235169855
Janta Suchna Kendra
219 , Prince Market
Sahu Cinema Complex
Hazratganj , Lucknow
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