Chief Minister,
Govt of Gujarat,
Gandhinagar
Dear Sir,
This has reference to the captioned media news.
What is reportedly happening is neither in public interest nor in the interest of Gujarat nor in the interest of the country.
Authorities responsible for torturing and victimising the RTI user must stop forthwith.
The RTI user, working in larger public interest, must be provided safe environment to continue his crusade against the rampant corruption plaguing the country.
In fact, the RTI user be publicly felicitated by the Govt of Gujarat, for his excellent & effective contribution towards transparency and accountability of administration towards the citizens - a dire necessity for the country.
Regards,
--
(Babubhai Vaghela)
C 202, Shrinandnagar V, Makarba Road Vejalpur, Ahmedabad - 380051
M - 94276 08632
http://twitter.com/BabubhaiVaghela
About me at - http://bit.ly/9xsHFj
http://www.youtube.com/user/vaghelabd
(Administrator - Google Group - Right to Information Act 2005)
http://groups.google.com/group/Right-to-Information-Act-2005/about?hl=en
RTI activist from Valsad gets death threats
Surat: After the visually-challenged RTI activist Ratna Ala, another RTI crusader from Valsad, Ketan Shah has lodged acomplaint stating that he has been threatened for his activism by the chief officer of Valsad nagarpalika and senior officers in the district administration.
For Shah, major shock came after the nagarpalika passed a resolution — a copy is with TOI — in the general body meeting on October 19 to blacklist him and strictly ordering the entire staff in the municipality not to entertain the applications filed by him seeking information and other miscellaneous work.
Shah, 40, a resident of Mota Bazaar at Bunder Road in Valsad town, has been using RTI as a tool to play watchdog in the works done by the nagarpalika for the past five years. In many cases, his RTI pleas stirred officers in the nagarpalika and the district collectorate into action.
In 2009, Shah, who is also a lawyer by profession, was successful in getting two engineers with the nagarpalika
suspended for their alleged involvement in corruption in laying of the drainage network worth Rs1.70 crore under the National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) scheme of the central government. Interestingly, the suspended engineers were immediately transferred to other place and they were called back on duty after eight days. When Shah challenged the decision taken by the nagarpalika to reinstate the corrupt engineers, he received an official letter stating that the three shops leased to him in 1982 by the district administration have been cancelled and that he was ordered to vacate the shops at the earliest as the nagarpalika has to repair the drainage manhole chamber passing from beneath their shops.
Now, the situation is such that the nagarpalika has boycotted Ketan Shah and his family. Few days ago, Shah gave an application to the nagarpalika to clean up his overflowing drainage line. But, the municipality officers gave a report that his drainage line was okay and there is no need to clean it up. However, Shah wrote a letter to the minister of state for urban development urging him to ask the nagarpalika officers to clean up his overflowing drainage.
He has told in his complaint to the Range IG that the chief officer of Valsad nagarpalika Jigar Patel has been using pressure tactics in one or the other way to withdraw the RTI applications against the nagarpalika. He gave many applications in the local police station and to the district superintendent of police (DSP) alleging mental harassment meted out to him by the nagarpalika officers, but they (police) are yet to take any action.
"I know death is stalking me every now and then. My only fault is that I have used the RTI tool effectively in exposing the corrupt practices going on in the nagarpalika. I will meet the same fate as RTI activist Amit Jethava," said Shah.
RTI activist Ketan Shah with his family members
--
(Babubhai Vaghela)
C 202, Shrinandnagar V, Makarba Road Vejalpur, Ahmedabad - 380051
M - 94276 08632
http://twitter.com/BabubhaiVaghela
About me at - http://bit.ly/9xsHFj
http://www.youtube.com/user/vaghelabd
(Administrator - Google Group - Right to Information Act 2005)
http://groups.google.com/group/Right-to-Information-Act-2005/about?hl=en
| Publication: The Times Of India Ahmedabad; | Date: Oct 27, 2010; | Section: Gujarat; | Page: 8 |  |
RTI activist from Valsad gets death threats
Faces Boycott From Nagarpalika For Not Toeing Councillors' Line
Melvyn Thomas TNN
Surat: After the visually-challenged RTI activist Ratna Ala, another RTI crusader from Valsad, Ketan Shah has lodged acomplaint stating that he has been threatened for his activism by the chief officer of Valsad nagarpalika and senior officers in the district administration.
For Shah, major shock came after the nagarpalika passed a resolution — a copy is with TOI — in the general body meeting on October 19 to blacklist him and strictly ordering the entire staff in the municipality not to entertain the applications filed by him seeking information and other miscellaneous work.
Shah, 40, a resident of Mota Bazaar at Bunder Road in Valsad town, has been using RTI as a tool to play watchdog in the works done by the nagarpalika for the past five years. In many cases, his RTI pleas stirred officers in the nagarpalika and the district collectorate into action.
In 2009, Shah, who is also a lawyer by profession, was successful in getting two engineers with the nagarpalika
suspended for their alleged involvement in corruption in laying of the drainage network worth Rs1.70 crore under the National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) scheme of the central government. Interestingly, the suspended engineers were immediately transferred to other place and they were called back on duty after eight days. When Shah challenged the decision taken by the nagarpalika to reinstate the corrupt engineers, he received an official letter stating that the three shops leased to him in 1982 by the district administration have been cancelled and that he was ordered to vacate the shops at the earliest as the nagarpalika has to repair the drainage manhole chamber passing from beneath their shops.
Now, the situation is such that the nagarpalika has boycotted Ketan Shah and his family. Few days ago, Shah gave an application to the nagarpalika to clean up his overflowing drainage line. But, the municipality officers gave a report that his drainage line was okay and there is no need to clean it up. However, Shah wrote a letter to the minister of state for urban development urging him to ask the nagarpalika officers to clean up his overflowing drainage.
He has told in his complaint to the Range IG that the chief officer of Valsad nagarpalika Jigar Patel has been using pressure tactics in one or the other way to withdraw the RTI applications against the nagarpalika. He gave many applications in the local police station and to the district superintendent of police (DSP) alleging mental harassment meted out to him by the nagarpalika officers, but they (police) are yet to take any action.
"I know death is stalking me every now and then. My only fault is that I have used the RTI tool effectively in exposing the corrupt practices going on in the nagarpalika. I will meet the same fate as RTI activist Amit Jethava," said Shah.
RTI activist Ketan Shah with his family members
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