KATHMANDU, Sept 21: With the announcement that Singh Durbar, the central administrative secretariat of the country, has reached every village following the enforcement of the federalism, people hoped they would get state entitlements and facilities at their convenience.
But it is not the case for the citizens who have been requesting information from the Gokarneshwor municipality for some time. Lal Krishna Mishra, a local from the municipality located in the east north outskirt of the Kathmandu Valley had demanded information with the municipality relating to the upgrading of the road as per Right to Information Act.
The municipality tried to displace his house while upgrading the local road, but did not provide the information about the road upgrading criteria, Mishra complained. It is not clear whether the municipality has assigned any staff as the information officer.
Information officers deprived of access to information
Although the municipality website has mentioned a spokesperson, the information officer is not clearly indicated, according to the information seekers.
However, chief administrative officer Agni Prasad Adhikari argued that information is provided to the requester. "He may not have been provided with all the information. We can share him gradually once he requests again," he added.
Another local Keshav Shrestha said they could neither get proper information nor justice from the municipality. The employees want to hide reality, he blamed.
Moreover, Sandip Tamang said he could not receive information about 10 per cent scholarship provided by the institutional schools to the hardworking, Dalit, women and indigenous students.
Responding to a question relating to the information seekers' complaints, spokesperson Manoj Kumar Dhungana, however, committed that he would direct the subordinate staffs to categorize the information requests and share the information accordingly.
