More info, more accountability

Sukanta Chandra Howlader, a youth from Barishal, recently filed an application to Bangladesh Betar's Barishal office under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009, seeking information related to their budget and expenditure for equipment purchase.

According to the act, he was supposed to get the information within 20 working days. However, more than 30 working days had passed since his application and but he was yet to get the information.

After more than a month, he received a call from an officer of the Betar office, asking him what he would do with the information. When Sukanta mentioned that he is an RTI activist, instead of providing the information, the official invitated him to the office for a "tea party".

Md Babul Hossain, another activist from Jashore said, "We have to pay two taka for one page of application form through 'treasury challan'. The bank officials often refuse to receive such a small amount."

RTI activists like Babul and Sukanta shared their experiences with the applications under RTI act in an experience sharing workshop organised by Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) and The Asia Foundation at The Daily Star Centre yesterday.

The two organisations jointly implemented a project titled "More Information, More Accountability" to empower youth by creating awareness on RTI act.

Total 33 youths from Rangpur, Jashore and Barishal have been trained as RTI activists in intensive training sessions at RTI Youth Camp under the project. They are now working on raising awareness regarding the right to information.

"People are still reluctant to file RTI applications on sensitive issues fearing reprisals," said Sukanta.

Prof Dr Sadeka Halim, former chief election commissioner, Nepal Chandra Sarker, former information commissioner and Martuza Ahmed, chief information commissioner, responded to various queries of the young RTI activists.

Young people will play the most vital role in raising awareness on RTI in the community, they said.

"If you do not receive information within 20 working days after filing an application, you can file an appeal which will be resolved by the relevant ministry. If you do not get a reply to your appeal within 15 working days, you can file a complaint to the information commission," said Martuza Ahmed, while replying to a query.

"Without a few exceptions, information commission always orders to disclose the asked information and punishes the responsible officials if they commit any irregularity to disclose it," he added.