Govt not keen to conduct workshops; PIOs, APIOs of 3 districts yet to receive trainings

Halfhearted implementation of RTI Act - III

SYED ALI SAFVI

SRINAGAR, Oct 24: The RTI Act in the state has turned into a classical case of much ado about nothing with the state government showing minimum interest in promoting and fully enforcing the law in the state.

More than 31 months have passed since the enactment of the RTI Act in the state, the government has done little to train Public Information Officers (PIOs), Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs) and to conduct workshops at district and tehsil levels in the state.
According to the RTI Act, the state government is duty-bound to conduct awareness programmes, workshops to aware public about the law. The Act also obligates government to encourage public authorities to participate and organise awareness programmes and workshops at their levels.

“The government may, to the extent of availability of financial and other resources, develop and organise educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public, in particular of disadvantaged communities as to how to exercise the right contemplated under the Act,” reads Section 23 (1) of the J&K RTI Act 2009.

According to reliable sources, the state government has received lot of funds for giving trainings to PIOs and APIOs and to conduct workshops at tehsil, district level to aware people about the Act.

The law was enacted to empower people, but most of the people are still unaware about the benefits of the Act, courtesy government’s reluctant attitude towards sensitising and awaring people about the rights and usage of RTI Act.

“Not a single RTI workshop has been organised independently by district administration at district level in the valley,” said an RTI activist.

According to sources, the state government has not provided money to district headquarters for conducting RTI workshops for general public.

“The RTI Act is of no use if the common masses are not made aware of the benefits of the Act,” said a senior state bureaucrat.

The sources said last year state government had allotted Rs 5 lakh to Institute of Management and Public Administration (IMPA), which is the nodal agency for implementation of RTI training, for giving training to PIOs and APIOs in every district. However, not a single penny has been allotted for conducting RTI workshops for general public.

Almost a year has passed, there are still three districts in the valley – Anantnag, Pulwama, Baramulla - where PIOs and APIOs have not yet received training.

“We give one-day training capsule to PIOs and APIOs at district level. Hopefully by the end of December, all districts will be covered,” Associate Professor at IMPA, Dr Jehan Ara Jabeen, who gives training to PIOs and APIOs told Kashmir Times.

She said that the central government has been very liberal in funding RTI trainings.

“DoPT is the funding agency for all these courses. Government of India (GoI) has lot of money available for RTI, but the problem is that there are no takers,” Dr Jabeen said. “Most of our training courses are sponsored by GoI.”

She said that the training programmes in districts are only attended by PIOs and APIOs.

“On an average 40-45 PIOs/APIOs attend training programmes in districts,” she added.