Seeking information under the Right to Information Act is not a crime but a right of every citizen who feels the need to seek answers, Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills, Isawanda Laloo, said by way of reassuring RTI activists who met her today.
The activists included Doria Shabong, who was threatened and condemned for seeking an RTI by the Village Employment Council (VEC) Chairman of Umlyngka, Stephan Lyngdoh, a few days ago.
Shabong and the others pleaded with the DC for action against the persons who had issued threats, harassment and ostracized RTI activists who sought to find out the status of government-funded projects in their areas. Laloo reportedly told them that she will ask all the Block Development Officers under her jurisdiction to carry out awareness campaigns about the RTI process and how citizens should learn to use these laws to guard against corruption.
Meanwhile, in the continuing focus on the workings of the Umlyngka National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) projects, the VEC has been given another 30 days to complete all the pending works found unfinished. An official enquiry found that at least six out of 19 projects were not completed.
PT Passah, the BDO of the Mylliem Community and Rural Development block, has ordered the Umlyngka VEC to complete all projects from the 2017 -2018 and 2018-2019 financial years.
The BDO had conducted an inquiry after a letter demanding this was received by Shabong, who feared that there was massive misuse of public funds.
“Taking into account the overall findings of the spot inspection and enquiry, it was apparent that there is laxity on the part of the concerned block officials since some of the projects concerned were not constructed as per plans and estimations,” said the BDO’s letter, dated February 16.
The RTI on Umlyngka MGNREGS projects, initiated by activist Agnes Kharshiing, was followed up with more RTI queries by Shabong, who demanded that these projects be completed forthwith or sought that the public money released for an incomplete job be returned to the government.
The VEC Chairman recently blamed Shabong’s RTI for the stoppage of fresh MGNREGS works but Shabong said that the RTI revelations were what forced Lyngdoh and the vendor who was responsible for the unfinished projects to complete them all as exposure of the matter embarrassed the government.
However, Shabong said that the BDO had not fixed responsibility for the irregularities but was continuing to give the VEC time to finish work that should have been finished between 2017 and 2019. Lyngdoh had claimed that these projects could not be complete because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Shabong rubbished this argument as the pandemic did not begin until 2020.
