Annexure-CXXIV Dharchula Tahsil & Block 30th August, 2006 Monitoring & Reporting Note ( Annual Report 2006 - 2007 ) RTI IN THE FIELD DHARCHULA TAHSIL & BLOCK LEVEL OFFICES : PITHORAGARH O Dharchula is yet another farthest tahsil cum block office from the state headquarters, its northern border running along the Indo-China ( Tibet Autonomous Region - TAR ) border and the eastern along the Kali delineating the Indo-Nepal international border. Munsyari ad Dharchula have similar problems, Dharchula’s getting more accentuated due to lack of progress on Ghatiabagar-Lipulekh road ( tangled with the elephant corridor forest –clearance of Doiwala railway yard dump of the Armed Forces). An extremely unfortunate state of affairs indeed, now particularly with the TAR region now having received regular rail connection with Lhasa ( June, 2006 ) and an excellent road connectivity all along the trans- Himalayan region, right up to Gartok. Last year this regions’ cup of woe was spilled with the ban of import of goats and sheep, animals used as the pack-animals for the border peoples’ trade. This Quarantine embroglio involving the Agriculture Ministry ( Animal Husbandry Commissioner ) insistence on check-up of all live animals coming from the other side of the border but not responding to the arrangements they were expected to make with the help of the state authorities has shown official apathy to this all important border-trade. These burning issues were obviously reflected in the Monitoring and Review meeting taken by the CIC, in block the conference room. 2. Presence of public representatives invariably leads to a changed methodology of Monitoring and Review as then the speaker or reviewer has to ( and she/he must ) tailor it to suit their interests. Before we cover the review proceedings, the SDM’s attendance of public officials present may be seen to assess the potential of effective disposal of RTI applications at the field, in this case sub-district/tahsil/block headquarters level. POSITION OF APIOs AND PIOs : DHARCHULA Sr Name Designation/Department APIO PIO 1 2 3 4 5 1. Shushil Kumar Sub Divisional Officer Yes Ex En, Askot 2. Jeewanti Joshi Nagat Panchayat Yes 3. Chandra Prabha Rayapa CDPO Yes 4. Tulsi Budiyal ADO(Coop) Yes 5. Daulat Singh Fakliyal Block Education Officer Yes 6. Ashok Kumar Misra Dy BEO ? ? 7. S.D. Bhatt Eduation Deptt, SSA ? ? 8. Ishwar Singh Jalagam (AD, Jalagam, Didihat) ? 9. Chandra Singh Dhami Ass Insp (Ag) ? ? 10. Kamlesh Kumar Manager, Jalagam ? ? 11. S.K.Yadav Sr Manager, NHPC Yes (Vijay Gupta, Co Secy, Faridabad ) 12. Dr. Lalit Joshi i/c MO Medi & Health Yes CMO, Pithoragarh 13. Dr. Pathak PHC, Dharchula ? ? 14. D.S. Bisht Industries departmemt ? ? 15. S.S.Bonal Supdt. Prod, KVIB ? ? 16. Manish Mittal Ex Eng,UJVNL,Dharchula Yes 17. M.K.Pathak UJVNL ? ? 18.Umesh Chandra Bhatt OA III, UJVNL ? ? 19. Nand Kishore Sharma Jr Eng, Jal Nigam ? ? 20. C.M. Chaubyal Jal Sanstahan ? ? 21. H.R.Arya ADO ( Forest ) Yes ? 22. K.L. Pangtey ADO( Ag ) Yes ? 23. Madan Singh Nabiyal Range Officer ? ? 24. Prakash Ch Joshi Jr. Eng., RES ? ? 25. Vidya Sagar ADO(Pan) &SW Yes ? 26.Santosh Ram Nagnyal Gram Panch Vik Adhi Yes Pradhan 27. Dhani Ram Chanyal Dy Treasurer Yes ? 28. Kiran Kumar Acctt, Treasury ? ? 29. Sundar Singh Daryal GPVA Yes Pradhan 30. Lalit Singh Gwal GPVA Yes Pradhan 31. Mohan Singh Kathait GPVA Yes Pradhan 32. Dayaram Arya I/c Gas, KMVN Yes 33. Dr Ajit Pratap Singh VO Yes 34. S.R. Arya Tahsildar Yes 35. Bhure Singh Nagar Panchayat, Dharchula Yes ? 36. L.S.Paliwal Block Development Officer Yes 37. Sampurnanand Gairola Inspector, Police Station Yes C.O. 38. Sub Divisionsl Magistrate Yes 3. The above list included only one public authority which was under the jurisdiction of the Central Information Commission, in so far as applicability of the RTI Act was concerned. These remarks have been filed up by the participants themselves and the District Magistrate and the Local District Level Heads ( district level officers ) should check up the status and confirm the same to the District Magistrate and Secretary, Uttaranchal Information Commission, Dehra Dun. From the question marks placed it would be apparent that many a block or tehsil level officials (i) are not aware of their exact status, whether they have a role of ASPIO or not, (ii) who their ASPIOs are, (iii) who are the PIOs and at what level, (iv) is position of APIOs and PIOs are known then who are the Departmental Appellate Authorities ( DAA), as al of them ought to know about them; and finally there are many public officials who could and should be given either the role of ASPIOs or whose status could be easily upgraded to that of PIO, to make the RTI really effective. District Magistrates and the SDMs should reflect up on the situation seriously and communicate their views to the concerned Public Authority, usually the Director General or the Director of the concerned Directorate. Principal Secretary, General Administration Department, the Nodal Department for the RTI Act, should continuously review the position of APIOs, PIOs and DAA, directorate –wise and ensure that a Consolidate Statement of the APIOs, PIOs and DAAs is available at all offices as well as on the internet, state portal and updated as frequently as possible. The Office of the Commissioners, Colletors and the CDOs must have Compemdiums of all departments of the State, of all tiers of administration; from the State Secretariat to the Gram Panchayats. 4. After the introductory welcome of the Sub Divisional Magistrate ( SDM ), stating the objective of the Monitoring and Supervisory nature of the review, public representatives were requested to address the gathering their view-points. Sri Pradumna Garbyal, a senior public representative of Dharchula, dwelt at the various problems the local citizens and traders have been facing and how he along with others have taken delegation to the state headquarters and New Delhi, without much avail. He in particular stressed on the following local issues: (i) Changes in the import policy i.e. inclusion of certain additional items of import from Tibet with reference to the Indo-China Trade, (ii) Restrictions imposed on import of sheep and goats ( quarantine restrictions ) leading to avoidable hardships and loss of margins and incomes , (iii) Opening of Kailash Yatra for common people, (iv) Inordinately long delay in completion of Ghatiabagar - Lipulekh and Tanakpur -Jauljibi roads, (v) Prolonged vacancies of teaching staff persisting with the Baluakot Degree College and Baluakot Ashram Type Schools ( ATS ), (vi) Lack of Transparency in implementation of the Askot Sanctuary Livelihood project and non-involvement of Panchayati raj institutions or local institutions, (vii) Lack of effective action notwithstanding various Delegation and money spent on these Delegations. 5. CIC after explaining the background of some of the issues raised by Sri Garbyal mentioned that the provisions contained in the RTI Act can be effectively used both for obtaining up to date position with regard to each of the issue highlighted by him. Now, the International Trade and Tourism Officer, whose post has been created some time back by the government, has not been filled up properly along with other posts and Mr. Garbyal could have applied for all informations relating to the Indo Tibetan Trade and Kailash Yatra by using the PIO of that office; which apparently has not been nominated by the Industries department, the Nodal department for this particular office. A copy of this Note should now be sent by the District Magistrate Pithoragarh to the Principal Secretary, Industries to immediately nominate a ASPIO and PIO for this office so that local people can seek all related information about the Trade and the Kailash Yatra. Secretary, UIC should also send this note to Secretary, Industries and ask as to why a ASPIO and PIO has not been nominated for such an important public office ? Mr. Garbyal could also have put a question on the Quarantine issue and as to what the Industries and Animal Husbandry are doing about it ? Based on the information received Mr. Garbyal could have asked Parliament or State Assembly Questions. The money the local people have spent on taking big delegations to the various dignitaries in the Centre and the State apparently have not borne any fruits and also resulted in such huge expenditures on the part of local border people, who are also poor people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. Sri Garbyal and other representatives were able to appreciate as to how the provisions of the RTI could be used by them in redressing local and all long pending issues and problems. CIC explained that it is exactly the lack of pro-active action, and even re-action on being apprised of a problem, from the public servants who are directly responsible for addressing all genuine problems of the people, that this important Act has been enacted. 6. Using the case studies provided by the problems raised by Sri. Garbyal the CIC explained about the number of public authorities the state has, the APIOs and PIOs and the Departmental Appeal Authorities each public authority has to nominate, the Notice Boards the APIOs and the PIOs have been asked to display prominently where they have their office and the nine type of Formats the PIOs and APIOs are now required to have as per the GO issued by the Chief Secretary on 22nd December , 2006. Providing a copy of the Uttaranchal Update, brought out by the Uttaranchal Information Commission, consisting of all GOs, minutes, Formats etc etc issued in the state till 18th April, 2006, to the SDM, Dharchula CIC suggested that those officers which have not received the abovementioned GO may copy the same from this Update as it has also been included between pages 144 to 152, including the 10 Annexures for all offices and PIOs and APIOs.