Make Padma info available to all
Chief Information Commissioner Muhammad Zamir yesterday said the tender documents and expenditure for the Padma bridge project should be made public to ensure accountability and transparency.
“The government is accountable for the money it collects from people or other sources. Like other major projects, the tender process and expenditure involving the Padma bridge project should be brought under the Right to Information Act,” Zamir told a seminar at Brac Centre Inn in the capital.
Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) and Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) jointly organised the seminar “Experience sharing on RTI implementation: a piloting case of BPATC-MJF collaboration” with financial assistance from World Bank.
Fifty-nine designated officers from eight government departments were trained under the project jointly taken by the MJF and BPATC to help implement the act.
Besides, 57 staff from five non-governmental organisations and seven training institutes had been trained in Manikganj under the pilot project.
Zamir said designated officers should be provided with necessary materials to enable them to give necessary information to people.
He urged the officers to put the information on websites or notice boards to make it available to information seekers. It will also help maintain a record of necessary information.
Zamir also stressed the need for ensuring accountability of the judiciary.
Commenting on the pilot project, MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam said, “We are trying to promote a culture of openness and come out of the culture of secrecy.”
She said proactive disclosure of information should be encouraged. If people get necessary information from proactive disclosure, they will not need to take the help of the RTI Act to have the information.
With the implementation of the RTI Act, people will start seeking information on transparency and accountability of the government alongside the information related to their life and livelihood, she observed.
Ashraf Hossain, director general of the Directorate of Women Affairs, said people would seek information whenever they realise that it concerns their life and livelihood.
BPATC Rector AZM Shafiqul Alam said training should be given to government officials, as many of them do not have sufficient knowledge about the RTI Act. Besides, the designated officers should be trained to differentiate between valuable and unnecessary information.
Charles Undeland, senior governance specialist of World Bank and Mahmudul Hasan of BPATC, also spoke at the seminar.
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