JOIN USPanduranga Reddy of Talur village in Siruguppa taluk has paid a whopping Rs 1,28,320 to seek details about grants given to the taluk panchayat (TP) by the Central and State governments between 2009 and 2013.
The authorities are dilly-dallying despite Reddy paying the hefty amount.
Reddy, husband of Siruguppa Taluk Panchayat (TP) member P Yashoda, filed an RTI application on March 26.
He also wanted an account of development works undertaken in the area, details of tenders floated for the works and their present status.
TP officials initially told Reddy that he would get four CDs containing the information. He paid Rs 50 for each CD through postal order. However, the information in the CDs was incomplete.
A dissatisfied Reddy subsequently sought hard copies of the information. On April 2, Reddy was told to pay Rs 1,28,320 for 64,120 pages of information through a demand draft drawn in the name of Radhakrishna Reddy, TP executive officer, at the State Bank of India’s Siruguppa branch. Though he submitted four DDs on July 29, Reddy is yet to get the information.
DDs returned
To his surprise, the DDs were returned through registered post. “I did not understand why the DDs were returned, when the executive officer wrote to me on April 2, asking me to remit the amount.”
Reddy said he sought the information under the RTI Act as there were doubts about irregularities in the local body. He further claimed that a TP official on September 24 promised him that all information will be dispatched in one month.
Radhakrishna Reddy told Deccan Herald that the information would be “provided if possible.”
Manjunath Naika, Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer, said he had spoken to the TP executive officer and all information would be provided in three days.