Deadline for Rita’s RTI reply ends in deadend

“We had asked for consolidated information from the state NRHM office,and they had duly accepted the application. It is their duty to provide us consolidated information. Why should we go to districts? “ asked Joshi.

She added,“We will file another application at the state NRHM office on Friday,asking them to give the consolidated information in a digital format. There is no provision in the RTI Act under which they can deny us the consolidated information in the format in which we want it.”

Lokesh Kumar,General Manager,Administration,NRHM,said his office had written to Rita Joshi mentioning the district-wise information on Janani Suraksha Yojana beneficiaries was available in districts and should be obtained from there by filing separate applications. “Reports have reached us the Congress workers are filing such applications,” he said.

Since information from the entire state runs into several lakhs of pages,Joshi had requested that it should be supplied in a digital format for which the charges are much lower.

Lokesh Kumar said they were supposed to provide the information in the format in which it was available. “We are not supposed to generate information for RTI applications. The information that they have sought is not available fully in digital format,” he explained.

On April 27,Joshi,accompanied by Rahul,had filed two RTI applications in the state NRHM office.