RTI activist alleges harassment by panchayat members, officials

November 05, 2011 12:17 pm | Updated 12:17 pm IST - MANGALORE:

A member of the district unit of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said that he was being harassed by some officials and members of Paduperar Gram Panchayat for exposing financial irregularities in the panchayat.

PUCL member and RTI activist Roshan Lobo told presspersons that he had exposed a number of irregularities in the panchayat, because of which he was being harassed. He has lodged a complaint with the police.

Holding up documents, Mr. Lobo said that an audit had revealed that the expenditure of around Rs. 2 lakh was unaccounted for. He said that a panchayat development committee that had not met even once had claimed bills for snacks. He claimed that documents revealed that the panchayat had spent Rs. 80,000 on repairing the motor of a pumpset 12 times. Instead of spending so much money on repairs, the panchayat could have simply purchased a new motor. Mr. Lobo said the panchayat had not replied to several of his RTI applications. Rather, the panchayat members and officials had taken to harassing and threatening him for the irregularities he had exposed. Meanwhile, Panchayat Development Officer Madhav Amin told The Hindu that an inquiry on the alleged financial irregularities in the panchayat was going on and that nothing can be said before that.

Asked about the alleged harassment faced by Mr. Lobo, Mr. Amin said that it was “political” and that he could do nothing as he was “only an official”.

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