Right to Information activist Anil Galgali on Tuesday alleged that the Delhi government is trying to hide its expenses on advertisements.
Right to Information activist Anil Galgali on Tuesday alleged that the Delhi government is trying to hide its expenses on advertisements. Mr Galgali said he got various evasive responses to his multiple RTI queries and in the latest reply, the Directorate of Information and Publicity Department’s Advertise Section Public Information Officer informed Mr Galgali that the desired information asked by him was not available with the office; however, he could personally inspect the documents.
Mr Galgali had filed an RTI application with the directorate of information and publicity (DIP) of the Delhi government seeking information regarding the advertisements given by the Delhi state government on television as well as newspapers. The newspaper advertisements were published not only in Delhi, but also in other cities including Mumbai.
In his RTI application filed on March 8 this year, Mr Galgali had sought information on the total expenditure incurred by the Delhi government on advertisements published on the occasions of completion of one year of the AAP government in the office.
He also asked for the information on whether the previous government led by Sheila Dixit had giving similar advertisements when they completed one year in the office on how much expenditure was incurred on that. Lastly, he sought information regarding the process adopted by the Delhi government to obtain public opinion on its decision to publish those advertisements.
The first reply that Mr Galgali received was from M.C. Maurya, deputy director of field publicity unit, requesting Mr Galgali to inspect the information available on the record in files of the FP unit so that information can be provided on the payment of prescribed fee under the RTI Act.
Mr Galgali received the second response from the public information officer stating that advertisements were published through Shabdarth (a department set up by Delhi government to handle its publicity). The second reply also said that Shabdarth did not deal with the information sought by Mr Galgali.
The latest reply was sent by the public information officer Nalin Chauhan on April 13, which says that the information sought under the RTI was not readily available and Mr Galgali could personally visit the office and inspect concerned files.
Terming these replies an attempt to hide the information, Mr Galgali said, “It is clear that the Arvind Kejriwal government does not wish to share the information on the money of common tax payers spent of advertisements. I have sent an email to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to upload all the related information on the website immediately.”
