PIO demands Rs 5 per 15 minutes for inspection of documents under RTI
12 Sep, 2013
An application was filed with the Ganga Pollution Control Unit of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details about the steps taken to control pollution in the state's rivers, interlinking of rivers and also about sewerage work undertaken in different cities including Allahabad, Varanasi and Kanpur. The application also sought to get the details of solid waste management and location of dairies outside city limits.
The project manager and public information officer (PIO) of the unit stated in the reply that details regarding Kanpur city were being sent and asked the applicant to come to the office to go through the relevant documents as the information was too voluminous to be answered through letter.
However, the reply also said that the applicant would have to pay Rs. 5 for every 15 minutes of studying the documents after the first hour. The PIO also transferred the applications to other departments like Ministry of Water Resources and Central Water Commission for queries related to linking of rivers and National Ganga River Basin Authority and Ministry of Environment and Forests for queries related to solid waste management.