Now, Resident Welfare Associations turn to RTI

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Right To Information Act has been used every now and then by people who want to quench their thirst for information of any kind. The latest entrants to the list are the residents of about 18 colonies of Ghaziabad. These residents want to know as to what is being done with the money they pay in the form of taxes. They want the accounts of the spending done in their areas by civic authorities to be laid before them. The representatives and presidents of the Resident Welfare Associations converged under the umbrella of Resident Welfare Association Federation, Ghaziabad on Thursday and prepared more than 150 RTI applications enquiring about the details of expenses that have been, till now, undertaken by the municipal corporation for various civic activities in their respective areas.

“We pay taxes against all these facilities. If there is any delay in the payment, we are fined for that. But what sort of facilities are we getting in return?,” said T P Tyagi, president of RWA Federation. They complained that despite paying regular taxes they don't even get basic facilities and these are turning towards their nadir.

Few days ago in a similar incident, an RWA in Kaushambi had filed an RTI application enquiring about the work done by the municipal corporation. It was then revealed that crores of rupee had been collected in the form of taxes but expenses were mostly done “on paper or drowned away in useless affairs.”

“Whenever we approach the civic authorities they always turn us away with a similar reply that they don't have funds. So we decided to take it in our hand and will now take the democratic route. We will all file applications at mass level under RTI,” said Tyagi.

This is probably the first time in the history of RTI when applications have been filed at such a large scale. The frustration levels have risen to such an extent that some of them even proposed managing the entire civic facilities in their respective areas by themselves. Residents are planning to take further action after they receive a reply from the authorities.

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