Though the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) authorities have appointed a public information officer (PIO) in the rank of DGM, but the officer and his subordinates sit in the plant’s main administrative building, making it difficult for ordinary men to access them as the premises is under highly security orbit.
Therefore a person desiring to seek information can neither submit the application directly nor can get the acknowledgement of his application as he cannot enter into the premises of the PIO. Rather, he has to pay unnecessary postal / courier charges for submitting his application. Even, the applicant is deprived of getting an acknowledgement of application.
The provision of the Act provides if an illiterate person wants some information then he can take the help of the officer in filling up his application, but it is not possible in case of RSP.
The Act also prescribes a fee of Rs10 as application money for getting information. According to Gazette notification of September 16, 2005 for providing the information under sub-section (1) of section 7, the fee shall be paid by way of cash against proper money receipt or by demand draft or banker’s cheque payable to the public authority and as per the gazette notification of May 17, 2006, IPO is also permissible. But in case of RSP, the PIO does not entertain the provision for receiving cash. That is why an applicant has to bear extra burden towards making the DD or banker’s cheque.
After 11 years of implementation of the Act, the RSP has grossly failed to adhere to the essence of the law. Reacting to this practice of RSP, an RTI activist RK lenka said the RSP has not only been violating the essence of the Central act, it is also on many occasions avoiding to provide the proper information on various pretexts. If the RSP had intention to obey the essence of the Act then it would have at least made provision for sitting an APIO in any office outside of the security zones. But despite several request and appeal, it has not been bothering to this.
It may be mentioned here that years back when the then SAIl chairman CS Verma had visited the city the matter was brought to his notice. Immediately, he had also instructed the then CEO GS Prasad to look into the matter and make the PIO office in a public accessible place. But so far it was not followed.
Reliable sources said Union Steel Minister is scheduled to visit Rourkela on June 6 and many RTI activists of the city will bring the matter to his notice.