Urban News

The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) open window system that involves an open access to civic projects and administrative files to citizens under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act has failed to generate response from people over last 10 months.

Open every Monday between 3 and 5 pm, the facility is utilised by an average of 15-20 people — about 50 per cent of which involve regular visitors and RTI activists.

“The problem is that the exercise has not been publicised effectively. While most of the citizens do not know that such a facility exists, others are not aware of the method to approach the officials. Majority of the PMC officials look at it as an obligation and give vague or misleading answers,” said RTi avtivist Jugal Rathi. The open window system of the PMC was started on August 1 last year after directives from State Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar in response to letters from people regarding such a display at the PMC.

Slamming the system, Rathi said, “Displaying misguiding information, avoiding answers, remaining unavailable for discussions are common. For instance, one official has been unavailable for the past six months. Despite giving suggestions to appoint separate officer for each department, the PMC has not bothered to respond.” Advocate P T Palnitkar, an RTI applicant hassled by construction department, alleges, “The purpose of the exercise is to create transparency and better governance but the manner in which the exercise has been carried out points towards the PMC’s reluctant attitude towards a tool that can expose their wrongdoings.”