| RTI, PSGA Portal included on Kupwara District's official website | | |  S.Tahir-Ul Haq
Early Times Report
KUPWARA, Feb 26: Early Times reported that Kupwara official website without RTI, PSGA Portal on Feb 6, however the Deputy Commissioner Kupwara, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan took cognizance of the report and directed the concerned authorities for its updating. From 2009 till Feb 6 all Deputy Commissioners, who were posted in Kupwara district ignored the RTI and PSGA importance, but the newly appointed DDC Kupwara, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, took speedy measures in updating the official website www.kupwara.nic.in , said Rasikh Rasool, RTI activist.
Last time I took up the matter with the DDC Kupwara about the official website of District Kupwara, which was without Right to Information Act (RTI) and Public Service Guarantee Act (PSGA) portal and other related links, as RTI Act is almost touching its 6 years of implementation in the state, but DDC told me that he had gone through the report which was published in Early Times on Feb 6, Rasikh added.
The Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act (RTI) is going to complete its six years of its enactment on March 20th, 2015.
Rasikh Rasool told early Times that, "the general public of Kupwara district and in particular I am thankful of Early Times that they highlighted this issue which was the need of an hour.
However there should be the maximum extent of information on all the official websites that will be of interest to the common people so that the need for requesting information becomes minimal, said RTI Activist Rasikh. He says the Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally. Even though the state political parties are public authorities and are answerable to citizens under the RTI Act, now you can yourself imagine how powerful act is this, if you would like to get any sought of information from any department that could be only possible under RTI Act, Rasikh added.
Rasikh said that it becomes the responsibility of the Government, with respect to creating awareness of the Act, but there has been lack of initiative from the Government's side. There should be a mass awareness of the RTI Act, so that people of the state could take benefit of it. It is pertinent to mention here that, The Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009 came into force on 20 March 2009, and it is intended to provided citizens a legally mandate mechanism for obtaining government records.
Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2009, is one of the most powerful tools for promoting transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority with an objective of ushering in good governance. |
|
