RTI: 10 years of strengthening grievance and reasoning

For families in Prem Nagar in Jogeshwari, panic set in when the tin sheets they had been seeing in the vicinity for some time turned out to be materials kept for redevelopment of their area. But the residents realised that it was a "psychological ploy" to ensure that they crumble and run to the builder for redevelopment fearing that they might lose their homes. This happened in February this year.

Ten years ago, a similar cat was left among the pigeons. Back then, some project affected people (PAP) were rehabilitated out of their locality. In the hope of not being thrown out from the area, some mooted the plan for redevelopment and even selected the developer.

A prime location, developers have been salivating for Prem Nagar for its proximity to a Metro station and the JVLR, which provides east-west connectivity, the airport, a railway station and the western express highway.

Shaikh Sajid, a resident of the area, said: "The procedure is that we should form a committee and this committee selects the developer who gives us the best deal. But in this case, we did not even know our areas were in for redevelopment," said.

Prem Nagar residents got wiser and decided to check the documents submitted to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) under RTI. "When we got the response, we got to know that the developer has not submitted any plan. There were no documents either," said Sajid.

But that was not enough. Dr Rama Shyam of Saher, who helped the slum residents with filing of the RTI, said: "Since an office was also opened and people with weak integrity in the neighbourhood were being employed by the developer, the residents of the slum wanted to know more be sure that nothing sinister was happening in the area. At the end of the day, slums tend to lose out because there is very little they get in redevelopment. These people have been living here for years."

"A complain was later filed at the SRA based on the documents procured under RTI. After three hearings, in which the lawyer of the developer also deposed, the official passed an order in September this year that there is no plan for redevelopment," said Sajid.

This eventually gave some respite to the residents who feared that nexus between officials, builder and some anti-social elements in the neighborhood may end up robbing them of their homes or giving them a raw deal.

For 10 years now, the RTI Act has been doing for people which no other Act or grievance mechanism has done. It has, in fact, strengthened grievance and reason. "Information adds substance to a complain," said Akhtar.

* Personal to neighbourhood and beyond
From getting their ration cards, driving licences, birth and death certificates, citizens are drawing more from the system when it stumbles to deliver to them. They are looking to further their horizon.
Sion resident Jaiprakash Jaiswal is one such person who has taken up the cause of services outside his home. Often considered to be lacking civic amenities, Jaiswal has managed to get roads cleaned and even get a drainage line done. "They would not never clean the over spilling gutter. We complained but nothing happened. This was when we resorted to RTI and started asking where the money was being spent," said Jaiswal.

Officials realised that they have not done any cleaning work and put a new drainage line was laid. "It took over six months but now the 100 meter pipeline sees regular follow ups," said Jasiwal, a social worker.

* No honest man is alone in his fight
Vijay Kumbhar, a Pune-based RTI activist, fought a battle of sorts when an honest officer was shunted for the job he was doing. Shrikhar Pardeshi was transferred for the action he took on illegal constructions. He was transferred because a senior minister was accused of shielding the culprits. RTI Act states that all information and decision should be in public domain. The case also became one in which RTI Act got increasingly clubbed with other Acts to complement them. The Maharashtra Government Servants Regulation of Transfers and Prevention of Delay in Disharge of Official Duties Act provides for the reasons when an officer can or cannot be removed before his tenure ends. "Since the government did not give reasons, I filed a complaint and the commission ordered that reasons be put up on website," said Kumbhar.

Kumbhar was also successful in getting the rules of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013 in Marathi after complaining to the state information commissioner and getting an order passed to that effect.

* Ever widening ambit of RTI Act
Fighting corrupt officers to get work done is one thing, but ensuring that large-scale corruption is curtailed through mere usage of information is totally different. Social audit, the hidden part of the Act, has done that. While most people felt that inspection can be of only information, it can now be done of works also.

One of the prominent movements that is happening in that direction is inspection of works through social audit. Citizens gather information and through community participation see if the work is done as mandated under law. "Our audits have shown success in places like trees and tree guards being put up, gardens and traffic islands being refurbished that were not getting refurbished for years together just by verifying with residents in the vicinity if the money was spent as per work order issued by corporation," said Bhaskar Prabhu, who has been conducting social audits in different areas.