From: "Sachin Agarwal" Date: Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:54 pm Subject: Review of Right to Information Campaign in Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh tellsachin Offline Offline Send Email Send Email ADVERTISEMENT A review of Right to Information Campaign in Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh Detailed report of People's Investigation (Janta Jaanch) done in six village panchayats. Information that was sought: 1. Bill - vouchers, receipts and payments register, muster roll, proceedings register and list of BPL card holders. In Bharawan, Mohammadapur, Aira Kakemau , Sahgawan, Shivpuriya, Parsa, Lalamau Mawai, Godwa Khem villages of Bharawan development block and Sikroria and Purwamaan villages of Sandila development block. 2. In Sandila block, after filing of affidavit, the Block Development Officer was asked thrice to present the statement of income and expenditure. 3. In Bharawan development block the muster roll and statement of income and expenditure with all bills/vouchers was asked for construction of two roads between Jakhwa power house to Sagargadhi and between block office to village Jajupur. Information that was made available: 1. Income and expenditure statements of village panchayats Bharawan, Mohammadapur, Itaunja Shivpuriya, and Godwa Khem (all villages of Bharawan development block) and of village panchayats Sikroria and Purwa Maan (both villages of Sandila block). Government investigation: Because the information provided by the government was at considerable variance with the ground reality inquiries were demanded at all places. Open investigation was carried out at only at Bharawan and a bungling of Rs. 284,311 was discovered. At Sikroria the discovered bungling was only of Rs. 1900. The village Pradhan (head) were punished at both the places. But later on the actions were reversed at both the places. At Bharwan it was due to judicial intervention and at Sikroria it was due to administrative action under political pressure. People's Investigation (Janta Jaanch) Disappointed by the administrative and the judicial intervention, the people decided to themselves verify the ground realities of the information provided by the government. The idea was to physically verify the information provided by the government machinery. The entire exercise was called People's Investigation (Janta Jaanch) The findings of people's investigation are as under: Village Panchayat Date of investigation Estimated bungling (Rs.) Sikroria 14 July 2004 169,102.00 Bharawan 16 July 2004 292,271.00 Godwa Khem 30 July 2004 92,800.00 Purwa Maan 03 August 2004 67,974.00 Mohammadapur 28 August 2004 72,764.00 Itaunja Shivpuriya 04 September 2004 20,024.00 TOTAL = 714,935.00 ********* Ram Sagar Verma `Guddu', Keshav Chand, Neel Kamal, Jayashanker, Shyam Kishor, Ganga Sagar Awasthi, Toori, Sajeevan Lal, Mohan Lal, Pyare Lal, Ajay Patel, Ram Babu, Shri Niwas, Hansraj, Mahesh, Sandeep Pandey.