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October 14, 2007
RTI Camps organized in Kanpur (UP), Baksa (Assam)

Along with local organizations, Asha Ashram co-organized RTI Camps in Kanpur in UP and Tamulpur, Baksa, in Assam.

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In Kanpur, two camps were organized under the title ‘Ghoos ko Ghoonsa’ (Lets Beat up Corruption) focused on raising awareness among local communities about Right to Information and providing training to people on how they could take advantage of this right and access information from government offices. On 10th October, the awareness camp and workshop organized at Phoolbag Grounds, coinciding with ‘Tehsil Day’ when communities from the ‘Tehsil’ (a section of the district) come to meet with government officials.

A large crowd came to avail of the facilities in the workshop and camp, with numerous requests being filed spanning old age, handicap and widow pensions, ration cards, as well as demands for various papers related to government processes that were dragging on. Between 500 to 600 people took advantage of the support by camp volunteers to file RTI requests from government officials between 10:30 to 2:00.

The camp shifted outside the Kanpur Development Authority office on 11th October. This was the culmination of a 6 month campaign in Kanpur during which time various workshops were held - in fact this was the 5th camp outside KDA offices in the 6 months. The campaign was quite successful – it caused KDA to put up an official board listing the PIO for the first time. The PIO office was also made more accessible, being moved from the 2nd to the 1st floor of the building.

Various filings were made during this day including land allotments, and decisions involving these in various housing projects, government processes in court cases, the absenteeism of government officials in such processes, and their accountability.

In Kanpur the campaign was run by the help of Asha, local labor unions, NAPM, RTI Center, Janhit Jagrukta Kendra (Public Welfare Awareness Center), and others.

In Assam, RTI camp were held in Baksa district on 26th September. This one day camp was held at Tamulpur Development Center with literature and handout presented in Assamese and Bodo languages. Over 300 women from local villages joined the camp. RTI guidelines and procedures were explained at the workshop.

Afterwards, the attendees went to meet the PIO at the Development Center – these officers said that while they had been trained, not one RTI application had been filed at the center. These officers gave more information to the attendees.

The women then asked the PIO (who was also the assistant block development officer) questions about ration cards and missing documents. As the volume of questions increased, the officer found it difficult to answer all of them and had to request the women for time to answer these questions. Numerous RTI applications were filed by these women during the camp.

Posted by collective at October 14, 2007 08:29 PM
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