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RTI Activist has been threatened of dire consequence by Govt. official in Bolangir, Orissa

Dear Friends 

Attack on RTI Activists gets rising day by day in Orissa. Mr.  Gopabandhu Chhatria, a BPL RTI Applicant  has been  threatened  of attack by Mr. Birendra Tripathy, SDO, Rural Works, Bolangir on 18.10.2011. In a complaint petition   addressed to Superintendent of Police, Bolangir on 24.10.2011, 
Mr. Chhatria has stated that he had submitted an application seeking information  about newly constructed building for Tahsil office located  before DEOgan Block from the PIO, office of SDO, Rural Works, Bolangir. Without providing information, Mr. Birendra Tripathy made a call from his mobile ( 9437150548)  to Chhatria       (9668523372)  and threatened him of dire consequence, if he  continued seeking information from his office.  Then he handed over his mobile to  a contractor who also scolded  Chhatria and asked him to refrain from accessing any information  from the said office. 

It needs to be mentioned here that Mr. Chhatria, Jarasingha, Dist-Bolangir had sought information about a newly constructed building for Tahasil office  in his area.  Though it was constructed a few months back, this building has  been cracked and water flowing  from the roof.  The work is substandard and getting  no use  for  the people. Apprehending corruption and irregularities in the fund allotted  for the said work,  Chhatria has sought  information to know the details of expenditure and sample of the building.    

Chhatria is yet to get any response from SP, Bolangir, as he shared in a meeting held in Bhubaneswar on 16.11.2011. It needs to be mentioned that last year, Chhatira was arrested by the local police and put behind bar  following a false FIR lodged  against him by the then BDO, Deogan Block  in 2009. His fault was that he had sought information about irregularities in construction of Check Dam.   

Regards 

Pradip Pradhan 

M-99378-43482  

Date-25.11.2011 

Misbehavior with RTI Activists

Subject: Need your advice and suggestion to restore my dignity and
self-respect

Dear Friends

On 14th of February 2011, I along with five others had been to Thakur munda
Police station, Mayurbhanj,  Odisha to collect some information as per the
section 4(1b) of the Right to Information Act 2005. Not only we were denied
the information but also severely humiliated by the Officer in-Charge (OIC)
of Thakurmunda  police station. The details are given below.

We, the following signatories, volunteers and RTI activists belonging to
Mayurbhanj district bring to your kind notice the following complaint
seeking your urgent intervention and remedial justice.

1)  That on 14.2.2011, we visited Thakurmunda Police Station to seek some
information, which are supposed to have been proactively disclosed and kept
ready for public inspection with effect from the 12th October 2005 as
mandated under Section 4 of Right to Information Act 2005. On reaching
there, we found the gate of Police Station closed. We informed the gate
keeper about the purpose of our visit. Requesting us to wait, she went
inside to consult the OIC and after a few moments she returned and opened
the gate  to ensure our entry to the  premises of the Police Station. We
went straight to meet Mr. Bhagawan  Jena, OIC and appraised him about the
purpose of our visit i.e.,  to get  some proactively disclosed information
under Section 4 of the RTI Act. The OIC suddenly got irritated and shouted
at us saying that no information was available in his office and asked us to
get out. We returned back from there in silence and empty handed.

2)  Then, when we were on the way back, a police jeep carrying SOG Jawans
reached  at us  and asked us  to  visit the police station again.The said
jeep carried us also to the police station and the Jawans put us
before the OIC, who immediately started hurling abusive words at us. When we
enquired to know about the reason of his misbehaviour, Mr. Jena suddenly
became furious and scolded us in an aggessive manner saying “bloody
nonsense, you are bloody Maoists, I will teach you a lesson” and the like.
Then he used these very words like “sala besi dekhei hauchha, netagiri
dekhauchha” For one hour at a stretch he continued his unruly and abusive
gestures and utterances against us. We were not allowed  to open our
mouth.We also could not understand why he dealth with us so savagely.



3)  When the OIC was at the peak of his infuriated rage against the group of
RTI users, Mr. Pradip Pradhan a prominent RTI Activist fromBhuaneswar and a
Trainer cum Resource Person on RTI reached the Police
Station accompanied by Mr. Jyotiram  Dash of jagatsinghpur and Mr. Brahmanad
Swain of Thakurmunda. When Mr. Pradip Pradhan was about to sit on a vacant
chair, the OIC Mr. Jena started abusing him with vulgar language. His words
were “You are a bloody nonsense; Who are you  to sit here? Is it decent to
sit before a police officer without permission? What is your academic
qualification? How dare you to sit before me like this? When Mr. Pradip
Pradhan started explaining him about the purpose of the visit  and asked him
to know about the arrangements made in the Police Station to provide the
information under RTI Act, the OIC irritatedly retorted, ‘Why shall we
provide the information? It is SP office, which should provide the
information? Who are you to ask for information? and so on and so forth. The
OIC also meted out similar kind of unruly misbehavour to Jyotiram Dash  and
Brahmanand Swain using abusive words and scolding them. The OIC also called
the SOG Jawans  to heckle Jyotiram Dash, but Mr.Dash vehemently protested
against it. Still one of the SOG Jawans physically  assaulted Jyotiram.
After scolding and threatening the RTI activists for abut an hour to his
fill, Mr.Jena the OIC’ asked us to leave the Police Station.



4)  The act of unruly misbehaviour by the OIC Thakurmunda towards the RTI
activists has  badly damaged our sense of dignity and self-respect as
citizens of India and also instilled into us a very scary feeling of fear,
threat and insecurity amongst us about our local police and police station.
We still continue to harbour an anxiety that  our life may be endangered by
the above Police Officer at any moment our of his deeply ingrained malice
and hatred against the cause of RTI and RTI activists.



5)  That we had recently come to know from the newspapers that the DG Orissa
Police issued a circular instructing all the Police Stations to put in place
Public Information Officers so as to provide information to the
public directly, and the Orissa High Court also closed the concerned PIL
following the apprisal to the Court by the State Government that the above
mentioned new arrangement has already been put in place and consequently the
members of the public are now in a position to avail the information under
RTI Act from each Police Station directly. But the way Mr.Jena, OIC
Thakurmunda misbehaved with RTI activists and flatly denied to provide
information to the visiting RTI users shows that he has nakedly violated the
instruction of DG Orissa Police and deserves therefore strong penal action
rom the Departmental authorities.

So, we request you to enquire into the matter and take appropriate
disciplinary action against the OIC Thakurmunda and ensure proper
arrangement to be put in place in the said Police Station to comply with the
request for information either under Section 4 or Section 6 of RTI Act 2005.

Thanking
Yours sincerely

Jyotiram Dash

At/Po..Puran

Dist..Jagatsinghpur

M-7894990463,  8895481388

Main Features of the RTE Act-2009

Main Features of the RTE Act-2009

 

The main features of the Act includes the provision that local authorities would identify school children above six years and provide them appropriate placement and support through special services. There would be 25% provision for children from weaker sections in private schools and no school can undertake screening for admission. Norms for minimum infrastructural facilities such as classrooms, boundary walls, etc, pupil teacher ratio, and qualifications within three years have also been prescribed. Constitution of School Management Committees is prescribed for all schools and their role in supporting and monitoring school performance through the development of School Development Plans has been directed. Each state was asked in 2010 to develop Model Rules in the first year for implementation of the Act and states were expected to undertake school mapping and household survey’s to identify all out-of-school children and maintain a record of all children with a special focus on hardest to reach children e.g. street and working children, children with disabilities, children in institutions etc. Neighbourhood schools were to be identified under the norm of primary schools within walking distance of one km and upper primary within a walking distance of three km of the neighbourhood. In the absence of a school in small hamlets, the state government has been instructed to make adequate arrangement like residential facilities and free transportation particularly for children with physical impairment to enable them to access schools easily.

 

The Act also focuses on quality aspects of education and school curriculums is required to focus on the all around development of the child; building up a child’s knowledge, ability and talent; learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child-centred manner. In order to provide child protection mechanisms the Act mandates that no child should be subjected to corporal punishment and mental harassment. Furthermore the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the respective State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights have been authorised to monitor the implementation of the Act, as well as act as a redressal cell.