It’s a typical tale of a dishonest contractor allegedly with the help of some Government officials murdering an RTI activist in Ganjam district for seeking information about their corruption through RTI.
This is what has been the findings of a team from the Human Rights Defenders Alert that went to the Randha village under Golanthara police station on Tuesday to investigate the murder of RTI activist Ganesh Chandra Panda (52). Ganesh was murdered on Monday morning (December 29) by a local contractor and some of his men.
According to the report of the fact finding team, the deceased, who is survived by his wife and a College going daughter, had sought information about the construction of a road in his locality from the block administration. Over the past few years Ganesh had exposed the corrupt practices of many with documents got under the RTI Act. This time he had sought detailed information from the local block administration about the construction of a road in his locality that was damaged due to cyclone Phailin.
“It was found that some block officials informed the culprits about the information sought by Ganesh. Furious over it, the contractor murdered him in broad day light,” said rights activist Akhanda, who was also a part of the fact finding team. “We visited the Golonthara police station and also Ganesh’s village. We found that he was being targeted by the corrupt people in many ways in past. They used to tarnish the image of his College going daughter by publishing leaflets for which a police case had also been registered at the Golanthara police station,” added Akhanda.
The team has demanded a compensation for Ganesh’s family and free education for his children. They have also asked for a job for his widow and the immediate arrest of the culprits, special protection for RTI activists. The team which was comprised of Pradip Pradhan, Pradipta Nayak, Charndranath Dani and Akhand, also decided to meet Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjeev Marik, besides staging a demonstration at lower PMG to protest the murder.