How responsible is our State Government?
Posted in Blog
In order to investigate how our money is being spent on and by our elected representatives, we filed a RTI application on 26th October 2009 to the Information Officer in the Chief Minister’s Office, Gandhinagar to request the following:
- The details of the expenditure incurred by the government on the salaries, mobile phone, travel, household and all other costs of ministers and MLAs of Gujarat, from 10th December 2007 to 26th October 2009. We have not received any information.
- The details of the funds/grants allocated to the ministers and the MLAs for development work and the expenditure incurred for the same. We have received the details and will post the conclusions soon.
- The details of the concerns and projects introduced by the ministers and the MLAs in the sessions of the Vidhan Sabha, in the interest of the public. If the State Government conducted any follow-up investigations, then those details are also to be provided. We have received these details and are going through them.
- The details of specific programmes, policies or projects declared by the State Government or published in the Gazette for the working class, labourers, farmers, peasants, women or the poor. We have not received any information.
- The steps undertaken by the Department of Industries to ensure that workers get timely justice from the Labour Courts over industry-labour disputes. There has been some confusion regarding this. We were told that the State Government has transferred our request to the Labour Court, Ahmedabad. As per the instructions from the Gujarat High Court, we would have to submit an application to the Labour Court at Lal Darwaza, Ahmedabad and pay Rs. 50 to obtain the information. We don’t understand why we should go to the Labour Court when our query is directed towards the State Government and we want to know whether the State Government has initiated any action to protect workers rights and ensure timely justice in case of industrial disputes.
- Any petitions submitted by the Opposition against the ministers and MLAs who have misappropriated government funds and grants. We have not received any information on this end.
- The details of the revenue obtained and costs incurred by the State Government in 2007-2008-2009. We have not received any information on this end.
- The details of the loans given by the State Government to industries along with the names of the industries. We have not received any information on this end. The government, through the State Finance Commission has given loans worth more than 800 crores to private industries. Since it has not been able to recover the money, the State Finance Commission is on the verge of a closure, and its employees have filed a case against the State Government and the Commission to protect their livelihood!
How responsible a governance is this?
