MARGAO
Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco on Saturday accused the state government for not following the letter and spirit of RTI, demanding that the BJP government and its supporting allies should heed to the objectives of RTI which mandates that every public office within the purview of the Act shows true transparency by providing real and up-to-date information.
Addressing the media, the three-time Curtorim MLA charged the state government for not respecting the sanctity of the Right to Information Act, 2005. “It is a fundamental right of the citizens of India to ask for information under the RTI Act, 2005 on government functioning related to its various schemes and policies which are implanted for the welfare of the citizens. Despite being the third-time elected representative, the replies received under the RTI from various departments led by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s government is to suppress credible information and conceal the right information to protect the clandestine motives of its departments,” he added.
Citing a case pertaining to Deen Dayal Scheme from Directorate of Health Services, he has asked Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to reply when the government departments doesn’t have the required information handy, further demanding to know what is the use of making a citizen run from pillar to post to obtain simple information when it is guaranteed right under RTI Act 2005.
Likewise, he said the RTI application of September 28, 2017 on upcoming commercial tax building at Altinho-Panaji clearly depicted the syndrome of passing the buck on the part of the authorities. “It was not only transferred to three offices like commercial taxes, GSIDC and PWD, but also the reply was very lengthy consisting of 15 pages and was mixed with different unwanted replies,” he charged.
