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Monday, June 22, 2009 : 1145 Hrs
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RTI enthusiasts set up interactive web portal
Chandigarh (IANS): If you want information under the Right to Information (RTI)
Act, just visit a new web portal to find out how. The site has been set
up - not by the government - but by people and groups in Chandigarh who want to
spread awareness about this right.
The interactive online web portal - www.rightto.info - has come up thanks to
the RTI Users Association which aims to form a strong network of RTI users
across the country.
"We have constituted this forum so that RTI users from all over the country can
exchange their knowledge and findings and interact among each other. This
organisation will provide them an easy platform to run and support various
activities that are of larger public interest," Hemant Goswamy, coordinator
of the association, told IANS.
He said the organisation, which is an initiative of likeminded people, is still
in the nascent stage and will take some time to have a proper organisational
structure in all the States. "However, we have initiated our activities from
Punjab and Haryana," he said.
Mr. Goswamy said any individual who is using the RTI could join them and upload
his information on their website, which anyone can access. It also has a
special section for youth to solve their queries and apprehensions regarding
the RTI Act.
"We will also organise various activities, seminars, debates and discussions
touching upon the burning topics that immediately concern our society at regular
intervals," Mr. Goswamy said.
"Anybody, whether he is using the RTI to highlight a corrupt and unlawful
activity or for the betterment of society, can join us. We would work in the
most
transparent and responsible manner," he added.
Kamal Anand, another member of the association, said: "The RTI Act is a
valuable tool in the hands of the common man to make our government and
bureaucracy
more accountable towards their work and decisions."
"Since its enactment, hundreds of scams and anomalies have been unearthed by
the use of RTI. In the last four years, all the RTI users of the region had
felt a need for greater interaction and further dissemination of knowledge
about this act among the public," he said.
The youth of the region are also very enthusiastic about the concept of this
association.
"I have seen many things going wrong right under the nose of top officials of
our administration, but we cannot do anything. Sometimes I wanted to seek
information through RTI but dropped the idea as I was not aware of its
procedure," Radhika Rai, a journalism student here, told IANS.
"There are many friends of mine who were not using RTI because of similar
reasons but now I guess we all have an easy solution for our problem," she
added.
Mayank Sharma, a young entrepreneur based here, said: "This association of RTI
users is a unique thing in Chandigarh and I will certainly join it. I think
the mere presence of such a group involving well-aware people will
automatically make things better."
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