Jammu, Sep 9: RTI activists, who unearthed an alleged multi-lakh scam in Gandoh area of Doda district have accused police and district administration of shielding the culprits and harassing the whistle blowers.
 A team of Jammu and Kashmir RTI Movement, led by its tehsil Coordinator Ghulam Qadir Malik, had inspected some record in the tehsil office of Gandoh Bhallessa after permission from the concerned tehsildar.
 “We were allowed to inspect official documents (under section 2(i) of JK RTI Act 2009) pertaining to reimbursements made to voters on account of photographs for election card sanction during 2002 and 2008 assembly elections”, a statement issued by the RTI Movement said.
 It added that the inspection revealed that fake signatures and thumb impressions have been made fraudulently by some officials of Revenue department and the people have not at all received the money in the same way as was done in Chadoora tehsil of Budgam, which was exposed by the RTI activist.
 “The tehsildar assured the activists that certified copies of the documents will be provided but they (officials) started delaying it and finally lodged a false FIR in police station Gandoh Bhalessa  on Friday wherein RTI Activists lead by Master Ghulam Qadir Malik have been charged with theft”, the statement claimed.
 “Why should our activists steal the documents when they can easily get the same thought RTI Act?”, the Movement member asked.
  Convener of J&K RTI Movement Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat said that the action on the part of the concerned authorities only depict the frustration of the officials. “We also appeal the Chief Electoral Officer of J&K B R Sharma to investigate the matter and take the scam seriously”, he added.
 A complaint has already been filed against DC Doda and tehsildar Gandoh Bhalessa before Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) G R Sufi and “we hope that he will seek an explanation from the DC”, the statement said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST