28 May,2009 12:57 PM IST | | PTI
Suvarna Bhagyawant (20) had to run from pillar to post for nearly two years to get her grandfather's death certificate, but with the help of Right to Information Act (RTI) she got it within eight days.
Suvarna's family - grandmother, parents, two brother and a sister, who have been residing for the past 50 years in Ambegaon, wanted the certificate to apply for the Widow Pension Scheme.
They finally took recourse in the nearly four-year-old landmark legislation that empowers people to seek accountability and transparency from government agencies.
"To enroll for the scheme we needed the death certificate, for which my parents asked me to collect it from the local authorities," Survana said.
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"At the tehsil office the staff demanded to Rs 500 for issuing the certificate, which was exorbitant. With the assistance of Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT) we filed a RTI application and received it within eight days without any payment," she said.
Suvarna is now part of a RTI support group started by PCGT and Bahujan Hitay Trust in August 2008 to seek honest, transparent and accountable systems in governance. Like, Suvarna there are several others who found difficult in getting things done from government bodies but RTI came to their help.
Similar is the case with 21-year-old Archana Bhagyawant, who had to make countless rounds of offices for one year to get a new ration card, but with RTI's help she got it within three weeks.
PCGT is running the RTI-related public programme in six villages - Ambhe, Kharad, Dhoke, Kushavali, Mangrul and Shivravali - in Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district.
The Act, which is a result of years of struggle by NGOs and activists, also came handy in solving problems of shortage of drinking water and electric cables these villages.
"RTI is a weapon to fight against different ways of corruption and ill-practices happening on day-to-day basis in our society. The poor and ordinary people are taken for a ride by officials at all levels. It is important to educate them about RTI, so we started the project in villages," said Julio Ribeiro, former Mumbai Police Commissioner who is associated with the PCGT.
PCGT runs RTI camps in these villages to spread awareness about the Act. "We have organised 12 camps in four months in these villages. Before setting up these camps we enact street plays with the help of our volunteers to make the villagers aware about the camp," PCGT Programme Manager Shabnam Siddiqui said.
