Indian Express 20.04.2010
BMC, Mumbai top RTI application list
Shweta Desai Tags : RTI, mumbai Posted: Tuesday , Apr 20, 2010 at 0024 hrs
Mumbai: The country’s largest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), received a whopping 59,000 applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act last year, according to the latest annual report of the State Information Commission released last week. The report says Mumbai city and the BMC got the highest inquiries under the Act introduced by the Centre in 2005 as a tool to empower citizens.
Amongst the 22 ‘A’ grade municipal corporations in the state, BMC is the only civic body to have crossed the five digit number in RTI inquiries. Officials disposed of around 56,000 applications and collected Rs 62.92 lakh by way of dispersal of information. Pune Municipal Corporation received 6,793 applications and Bhivandi-Nijampur civic body 3,659.
Officials said applications to BMC come not only from Mumbai but also Pune, Nashik and even outside the state. “Since there are many organisations, institutions and important people operating from Mumbai or having buildings and offices here, there are inquiries on matters such as illegal structures, SRA, water connections,” said the officer.
As compared to other districts, people in Mumbai set a record by using the Act in a major way. Citizens from the island city filed 7,562 applications while those in suburbs filed 6,110, taking the total to over 13,600. Jalgaon has a share of 10,442 applications and Yawatmal 10,396.
Activists said there was nothing to rejoice in these numbers. “Such a large number of RTI applications is shameful. Public information is not readily available on the official website,” says activist Bhaskar Prabhu. “It shows our government and local body are not transparent and do not make information easily available, forcing citizens to file applications,” he said.
Another activist, S K Nangia sees a positive angle to the large number of applications saying it shows people are not taking things lying down. “Departments like SRA have the dubious reputation of not being transparent. Since information is not readily available, people file RTIs. It shows people in Mumbai are more proactive,” he says.
State Information Commissioner Suresh Joshi said he would not like to give a judgement based on the numbers. “People use the Act for different purposes. One of them is a means of finding why and where their files are stuck. But as long as citizens get their work done through the Act, it is a positive step,” he said.
Maharashtra was one of the pioneers of RTI when the state introduced the Act in 2002 much before the Central government adopted it in 2005. In the last four years, there has been a growth in number of applications. “But we are also the only state after Andhra Pradesh to have released the annual report of 2009. The Central government itself is lacking in this initiative,” Joshi said.
