RUSH WITH DANGER COST OF TRUTH

BRUSH WITH DANGER COST OF TRUTH
indian express
FILING an ap plication un der the Right to Infor ma tion (RTI) Act is a piece of cake. Pay Rs 10 for a form, fill up, submit it and wait for the outcome keeping your fingers crossed. You may stumble into a goldmine of information. Or landmine.
The goldmine may make you smile and the government squirm, but it's not easy to negotiate a landmine ­ as V Balasubramanian (68), a resident of Nayakanpettai in Kanchee puram district, found out.
He used the RTI tool to ferret out information on five weaver's cooperative societies in his district and found massive misappropriation of funds. The news made him an instant celebrity in the locality as he was seen as a whistleblower, but for those who wanted to put a lid on the scam, he was bad news and had to be gagged. On August 19 last, Balasubramanian was silenced forever.
The body of the father of four was found under mysterious circumstances in Vallathottam village, 20 km away from Nayakanpettai.
"He had to pay a heavy price for exposing the scam. Balasubramanian had re- ceived threats from politicians and government offi- cials," claims family friend Ramu, who suspects foul play in the death. He blames the government's inaction for the tragedy.
On an earlier occasion, members of the weaver's so- ciety had manhandled him for seeking financial details. In August 2007, he filed a police complaint against five people despite his family m e m b e r s a dv i s i n g h i m against it. village in Kancheepuram district , Intimidation - The death of Balasubra manian has put the spotlight - on the security of RTI activ ists in the country. Are they safe in Tamil Nadu? V Go palakrishnan, an RTI activ ist in KK Nagar in Chennai has so far filed over 350 RTI applications with several departments. "I have been threatened on many occa sions," he informs. He had sought information from the Vellore taluk office on old age pension and the prop erty details of officials who sanction the pension. "I filed RTI petitions suspecting cor ruption as thousands of pen s i o n ap p l i c at i o n s we re cleared within a short peri od," he informs. Subsequent ly, the State Infor mation Commission ordered an inquiry into the complaints made by him against two unidentified persons who wanted him to withdraw his application. The panel referred the matter to the Director General of Police and the local police at Vellore. But the case was closed abruptly, al leges Gopalakrish nan.
Three years ago, a local councillor in Chennai threat ened Go palakrishnan for seeking de tails on the con struction of roads. struction of roads.
"I was also threatened for seeking details of assets of a government engineer. They told me if you proceed further, you will be finished," he claims.
After threats failed to cow him down, some busybodies tried a different tack. "For example, someone filed an RTI application in my name seeking demolition of an old temple in my neighbourhood. The purpose was to turn the locals against me," recalls Gopalakrishnan.
As if on cue, about 150 people gathered near his house to warn him against such misadventures. Ever since, Gopalakrishnan has been affixing his thumb impression on every RTI application he files to make it tamper-proof.
Families threatened Often, not only the RTI applicant but also his family members face the wrath of the affected party. Around three months ago, about 20 l o c a l p o l i t i c a l wo rke r s barged into R Balakrishnan's house in Tiruvannamalai district and threatened him and his family with dire consequences. The 63-year-old retired school headmaster had used RTI to ex had used RTI to ex pose financial ir re gulari ties in the rural job guarantee scheme and the functioning o f t h e panchayat and local bodies. "I n- had to approach ts the local police the local police station and the infor mation commission seeking security," informs Balakrishnan.
With increasing awareness, the age profile of RTI applicants has dipped. For example, Shankar K (27), an assistant professor in a private college, used RTI to expose the rot in the administration of local bodies and his village panchayat - Kadayanallur - in Tirunelveli district.
His RTI application seeking details of a local contractor who was awarded most of the contracts for building roads and public utility buildings landed him in trouble. "The contractor is a political party leader. He and a local councillor warned me against escalating matters," informs Shankar. s - How did he react? Did he - file any police complaint?
t "No. I didn't need to as I hail from the same village and have good support of the people.... I know how to han - dle them," he says.
y f Builder lobby d 0 Not all those who try to s muzzle RTI activists are po litically well connected. For example, a private builder threatened P Balasubrama nian (58), a retired VAO from Cuddalore, a few months ago. The builder had, accord ing to Balasubramanian, built more than 300 houses in Cuddalore without obtain ing per mission from the town-planning department.
"I got all the documents through RTI to prove that these houses are unauthors ised," says Balasubramanii an. An activist who got police protection RTI ACTIVISTS KILLED THIS YEAR SATISH SHETTY (38) JAN 13 | PUNE Stabbed to death while returning from a walk near his house. He exposed corrupt land deals and illegal construc tions near Pune VISHRAM LAXMAN DODIYA (50) FEB 11 | AHMEDABAD A Surat-based shopkeeper, Dodiya was killed after he refused to withdraw an RTI plea seeking info on illegal power connections SHASHIDHAR MISHRA: FEB 14 | BEGUSARAI A local RTI activist who worked to expose corruption at the panchayat and block levels, Mishra was shot dead by unidentified motorcycle-borne criminals at his Phulwaria village residence ARUN SAWANT FEB 26 | BADLAPUR Two men shot him dead while he was on his way to the Badlapur Municipal Council to file an RTI application on civic proj ects and local politicians SOLA RANGA RAO APRIL 11 | KRISHNA DISTRICT Found murdered near his house allegedly because of an RTI application regarding funding of the village's drainage system VITTHAL GITE APRIL 21 | BEED An RTI activist from Aurangabad, who had exposed irregularities in a village school in Beed, Gite was killed following a clash between two groups DATTA PATIL MAY 31 | KOLHAPUR He petitioned the local court against horse-trading during municipal coun cil polls. Also demanded probe into the assets of 2 former police inspectors AMIT JETHWA (33) JULY 20 | AHMEDABAD Jethwa was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad. He had been an active crusader against illegal mining in the Gir forest RAMDAS BAPUJI UBALE-GHADEGAONKAR (43) AUGUST 29 | NANDED He was found dead under mysterious circumstances at Nanded district. He used RTI for exposing corruption in PDS TOP 5 RTI EXPOSES A Right To Information (RTI) request filed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal with Su preme Court in November 2007 kicked off a debate on whether assets and liabilities of judges of Supreme Court and High Courts should be made public or not. This prompted the government to introduce Judges' Assets Bill in Parliament, which was sub sequently withdrawn. A journalist of India Today, Shyam Lal Yadav, filed about 60 RTI applications to reveal expenditure incurred on for eign trips by Ministers of the United Progressive Alliance government. The RTI revealed that the trips were equivalent to 256 rounds of the globe, according to a news report. The RTI was instrumental in revealing the Mayawati gov ernment's expenditure of Rs 4,436 crore for the Ambedkar Park and Kanshi Ram memori al in Lucknow.
The RTI also exposed how In dian Institute of Technology, ) Kharagpur, used to block 25 h per cent of its seats in five year integrated science cours es for the children of its teachers and staff for over four decades.
Ministry of Home Affairs agrees to disclose documents pertaining to the alleged disappearance of Subhash Chan dra Bose under the RTI. The details were not given out for the past four decades fearing law and order problems.
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