Dear Babubhai,
Many thanks for posting this news item and keeping us informed about such developments. Such activity deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms possible.
Sarbajit
--- In rti_india@yahoogroups.com, Babubhai Vaghela <vaghelabd@...> wrote:
>
> 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
>
> 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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