State Information Commission (SIC) Monday organised a three-day training programme on Right to Information in collaboration with Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development (IMPARD) here.
While inaugurating the programme, SIC Secretary, NarinderSingh Bali who was the Chief Guest on the occasion emphasized the need for freeflow of information and encouraged citizen participation in the process.
Maintaining that the days of secrecy and opaqueness ingovernment departments have come to an end, he said that no democraticgovernment can serve its people without transparency and accountability.
Terming RTI as the bedrock of good governance and welfarestate, Bali said it strengthens corruption free governance. He asked the PublicInformation Officers (PIO’s) from various departments who were present on theoccasion to divulge correct information to the public in a time-bound manner.
Calling PIOs as the eyes and ears of the Commission, Baliencouraged them to change the system for better at the bureaucratic level andnot wait for the political system to bring in a change.