Determined, they nailed PIO’s wrong info report

Officials regularly tell lies and rarely get caught. But this one time, a public information officer (PIO) was caught telling a lie under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, and his superior officer had to give a written acknowledgement of that lie.

The noise emanating from 12 repair workshops near Nana-Nani Park at Pestom Sagar, Chembur, was a source of harassment to the residents there. The residents had already complained to authorities concerned seeking relief from the noise, particularly since the area was earmarked as a silence zone.

“Sleeping or studying was a big problem and we kept on reminding the authorities,” said V Sangole, a member of the Pestom Sagar advanced locality management (PSALM). When the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) did not act, residents decided to file a plea under RTI Act in January seeking details of the licence given to two workshops which made the most noise.

“What surprised us was that BMC’s public information officer said these shops do not keep machines, while we saw them being used,” said GR Gaonkar, another resident. “We contested his claim and took the matter to first appellate authority (FAA),” said Sangole, adding that initially the FAA, who is the executive engineer, BMC, sided with the PIO.

The residents bolstered their case with information from other officials. “The licence department gave us a list of activities that were conducted by these shops, including cutting and treating of metals with the use of machines,” said Sangole. When presented with this evidence, the FAA had to state in writing his PIO had told a lie. Now, two weeks later, all the shops have stopped their metal works, while one has shut down.