RTI crusader lands in trouble

VICTIM OF FORGERY
RTI crusader lands in trouble

Julie Mariappan TNN

Chennai: The central government’s Right to Information Act has virtually
thrown open the iron doors of bureaucracy to the common citizen. The flipside is
that activists seeking transparency can also become targets and be prevented
from seeking information through RTI.
That is how V Gopalakrishnan of MGR Nagar landed in trouble. An ardent RTI
crusader, Gopalakrishnan had shot off several applications to various government
agencies several times demanding information on the basic amenities such as
waterways, power supply, road-widening works and encroachments.
But on Monday night, a 100-strong mob gathered in front of his house and
began abusing him for sending an RTI application to the Chennai corporation to
clear encroachments. They wanted to know why Gopalakrishnan had demanded the
demolition of three temples in MGR Nagar. For Gopalakrishnan, it was a blow out
of the blue. “The crowd was not convinced by my reply that I did not file the
application. The frustrated people abused me and my family. There was total
chaos until the police arrived on the scene,” Gopalakrishnan told TOI.
The next morning, he took some of the temple authorities to the office of the
local ward (131) and was shocked to find that application had indeed been filed
by forging his signature. Worse, the application was completely written in
Tamil, while he always prefers writing in English. His initial was also not on
the application. “I immediately lodged a complaint with the MGR Nagar police
and the civic body. But what took me by surprise was the fact that the public
got to know the applicant’s name. In fact, the Saidapet zone are not coming
out with a proper reply,” Gopalakrishnan said.
His query on the de-silting programme in the MGR canal and on the
encroachments on the canal bed, is yet to get a reply from corporation officials
since August last year. Gopalakrishnan is the secretary of the Chennai chapter
of Fifth Pillar, an NGO working against corruption in the administration.