NEW DELHI: Even though the Right to Information Act was passed almost a year ago, for many citizens getting a simple piece of information on issues such as their entitlement for foodgrains under the Public Distribution System still remains a distant dream. Not only do they face opposition from unscrupulous officials, often they are also threatened by the corrupt officials and traders to whom the PDS stocks are transferred illegally.

When Babita, a resident of Hastsal resettlement colony in West Delhi, visited the circle office (No. 27) to file an RTI application as she had not been getting her food grains for the last two years, the officers of the circle reportedly harassed her. And when she went to the Food Supply Officer, rather than helping her, he informed the traders who were selling Government rations about her presence and they later went to the house of Babita and asked her not to file the RTI application, offering her some foodgrains in return.

But in Meera Bagh, when some residents wanted to file RTI applications and reached Circle Office (No. 16), the FSO allegedly asked one of his subordinates to call the shopkeepers and sort out the issue. Within five minutes about a dozen shopkeepers reached the circle office, allegedly snatched the ration cards of the residents and the RTI application forms they were holding and threatened them, forcing them to retreat.

Anita Juneja of Delhi Shramik Sangathan, whose organisation has been working with residents of jhuggi and slum clusters, charged that the Public Distribution System is one of the most corrupt departments. "Since the poor residing in slums have no knowledge about the Government norms and their entitlements, we help them file RTI applications." However she said the Food supply Officers and other officials in the circles have been discouraging people from filing RTI applications seeking information. "This is how the so-called transparency of the PDS is working. With such type of muscle and money power, how can the citizens of the country get information from Government departments under RTI," she demanded to know.

Moreover, she said, when people of Mangolpuri visited the office of the Food Commissioner and informed her about the corruption in the department, all that she could do was assure that the matter would be investigated in a month's time. "But what about the lack of disbursal of previous grain," Ms Juneja asked.

Obviously, people expect a better deal a year after the RTI Act was passed.

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