The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday issued a statement in response to a press conference held by activists on Friday with regards to Praja Foundation’s persona non grata status. The BMC had declined to provide information sought by the foundation under the RTI Act.
The BMC said Praja Foundation has defamed it “Everybody has the right to criticise and talk about it if there is something wrong with the BMC. However, it is not appropriate if a reputable institution is misrepresenting the organisation by making a broad interpretation of the affairs of the civic body,” said the statement.
‘Info on website’
The statement also spoke about the issues with Praja Foundation’s findings on malnourishment in municipal schools and the government-run tuberculosis programme, DOTS. “In both cases, Praja Foundation has not taken into account changes in methodology during the time frame of the data, thus giving an incorrect picture. We had asked them to clarify this in writing, but they did not consider the points we made and stuck to their own stand. Further, Praja Foundation asks for the same information under RTI that is already available on our website,” it said.
Praja Foundation members said they had responded to the BMC’s queries in July last year. “We have not received any intimation from them regarding this till November, when they sent another letter with the same queries. It did not mention our response in July,” said Milind Mhaske, Project Director at Praja Foundation.
