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Soon, RTI Pleas To Be A Phone Call Away, Govt Set To Introduce A National Call CentreBy Nikhil IAS, Section News
Now you won't have to go to a Government office to file a Right to Information (RTI) application. Your right is just a phone call away. The Government is all set to introduce a national call centre that would register your RTI applications over phone and won't even charge you a penny.
The innovative initiative would be first introduced for Central Ministries and then expanded to include all Government organisations and bodies that come under the ambit of the RTI Act. Not only the applications but also the first and second appeals would be filed over phone. The facility would first begin for only applications and then expanded to appeals. A call centre to be set up would be given a unique telephone number. The helpline is likely to be started within this financial year. It would have trained executives who would be well-versed with framing RTI applications. All that an applicant would have to do is just call that number and pose his questions. The executive would take down the questions and give the applicant a reference number to follow up his case. This application would then be forwarded to the concerned Ministry. A RTI application fee of Rs 10 would come on the telephone bill of the applicant. Apart from this, the applicant would just have to pay normal call charges for the time he has spoken over the phone to the executive.
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According to sources in Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, there would be certain conditions to this facility like the applicant would be able to make use of this only if he is calling from a MTNL or BSNL line.
The National Informatics Centre would help the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in setting up this centre. The Central Information Commission (CIC), which is the final appellate authority for RTI Act, has also been roped in for its opinion on the call centre. Sources said that CIC officials might train the call centre executives. The Government is toying with the idea of roping in non-Governmental organisations (NGOs) conversant with RTI Act in manning the centre initially. Said a senior CIC official: "To begin with some NGOs could be roped in to help the Government. CIC and NGOs could train the call centre executives." The Government has decided to introduce this initiative after the success of a pilot project in Bihar that was initiated after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took over. The helpline - called Jankari (information) - was introduced in January 2007 and has been a successful venture so far. The Centre is also trying to learn from some problems that Jankari is facing. Though it has got a tremendous response, the phone lines are often out of order. Source:Nidhi Sharm From The Pioneer 16/July/2008
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