Two days after the Brahmapur police arrested six persons in connection with the murder of Right to Information (RTI) activist Ganesh Panda at Randha under the Golanthara police station, rights activist and representatives of the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan (OSSA) will meet Chief Secretary on Thursday to press their demand for enactment of a Whistleblower Protection Act.
“Arrest of culprits is not the solution. The Central Government has enacted “Whistleblower Protection Act’ February last year. The new law is designed to act as an effective tool to provide protection of information-seekers from attacks including murder and slapping of false and fabricated charges against persons exposing corruption, irregularities and malpractices in the Government,” said OSSA State convenor Pradip Pradhan, adding that they will apprise the Chief Secretary about the State Government’s failure to frame rules to this effect.
Pradhan said they will adopt various methods like demonstration to sensitise various sections of the people such as activists, human rights defenders and RTI activists about the Whistleblower Protection Act and to put pressure on the Government to frame activist-friendly rules in consonance with the original Act. He informed that future course of action will be fixed only after the meeting with the Chief Secretary.