Toilet Septic Tank Cleaning: RTI A Great Succor

[avinash_m28]

Part 1 - Toilet Septic Tank Cleaning: RTI A Great Succor.
~ Avinash Murkute
Nagpur, Dated March 07, 2008

Next time you loll or sit in your private loo and if it is stinking, possibly due to choked sewage line or septic tank full up to its brim, get it drained. Your municipal corporation’s health department has facilities and suction machines for this very purpose. Pay required fees. But if you are still constipating due to apathetic attitude of your municipal corporation, you will find transparency law, RTI Act 2005, a true laxative and will felicitate this vital activity i.e. septic tank cleaning.

Urban populace enjoys properly laid drainage system. This activity is government monopoly. Wherever drainage system infrastructure is lacking septic tanks are built in the corner of every plot where we built our home sweet home. Toilets with septic tanks are must in rural areas.

On date 01/11/2007, my application for getting toilet septic tank cleaned was processed by Health Officer of Laxminagar Zone of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). I paid a hefty fee of INR 1210 for getting the job done. Despite repetitious reminders I found zone office reluctant to carry out the job. All my telephone calls and efforts were down to drains. Finally, I invoked RTI act 2005 and my toilet septic tank was cleaned within 2 days of receipt of RTI application. RTI application was received on date 22/11 and job was done on 24/11/2007. Thanks to RTI act 2005.


Part 2: Toilet Septic Tank Cleaning: NMC Nagpur AA Finds PIO Guilty

Get your job done and keep moving this is a corporate mantra. My toilet was smiling now and I was happy. It is a fact that majority of septic tank cleaning requests are attended without the fees or by accepting illegal remuneration. I wanted to prove the world wrong - Not everybody pays the bribe.

I could have ignored no response to RTI application but went personally to PIO office to check whether RTI application was received or not. I was told that information is ready but was not dispatched. Finally information was served to applicant on date 11/01/2008, much later than it fell due. Although information was prayed via postal mode, PIO sent government vehicle to my residence to deliver the information. What to serve, how many pages to serve was not known to delivery boy or for that matter APIO. First he first served one page information, went back and later furnished 2 more pages.

WHAT WAS ASKED IN RTI APPLICATION?
How many applications were received by the said office, date of application, date of fees paid, date of execution of work, amount of fees paid and name – designation – contact number of complaint officer for a duration of 3 months.

REASONS FOR APPEAL:
1) Incomplete information, delay, poor quality of information, haphazard manner of delivery of information and difficulties faced by applicant were reasons for appeal. Penalty for 20 days delay was prayed
2) Septic tank cleaning via official manner is costly, tedious and requires long waiting period was submitted as additional information.
3) Publishing SOP, standard operation policy, for septic tank cleaning was requested to contain corruption and enforce monitoring system.

ORDER BY APPELLATE AUTHORITY (AA):
(Below is the abridged version of order passed by NMC Health CO as AA u/ RTI act 2005 in appeal number 12 dated 27/02/2008)

Appellant, APIO and PIO were present. It is a fact that there has been delay in providing the information. It is also an admitted fact that the information which has been provided does not include the date of completion of work. PIO failed to issue letter to appellant about RTI application. Thus it is clear that the information provided to the appellant is incomplete to some extent and also not in the proper format and has been provided after the statutory period of 35 days which includes 5 days for APIO.

The information not being in the proper format and in view of the number of rounds which the appellant had to make to the Zonal Office and also the difficulty in even procuring the contact number of the concerned officer, the following measures need to be strictly followed, so that other citizens do not face the similar situation.

a) Cash receipt will have rubber stamp impression - Work will be done within 3 days and contact number of zone officer i.e. mobile number XXXXXXXXXX.
b) An internal circular should be issued directing the concerned officials that monitoring should be enforced by Sanitary Inspector or Zonal Officer on day to day basis.
c) Delay due to administrative issues or machine failure should be intimated to applicants.

Since the delay in providing information has been confirmed and delay involves at central & zone level, PIO should examine and fix up the responsibility of delay on concerned person so that penalty per day can be levied as per RTI Act 2005.


Avinash Murkute

[karira]

That's very good work.
Perfect case study fo RTI success.

[avinash_m28]

Thank you Sir.