If at all the Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) comes under the RTI Act, activists and citizens feel that it will have positive ramifications on a host of issues that need further clarification.
If at all the Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) comes under the RTI Act, activists and citizens feel that it will have positive ramifications on a host of issues that need further clarification.
More information is needed on a series of services, which are fundamental rights of a citizen, and were prerogative of the government alone, but are now being provided in association with private bodies. These include power, water, telecom, internet, and transportation, in all of which private bodies have a significant say due to the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
"The first thing it (bringing MMOPL under RTI Act) will do is make it a part of the landmark order that states such bodies are public authorities due to the kind of function they perform. It will also help deduce whether such PPP models are viable and how much they benefit citizens," said Bhaskar Prabhu of Mahiti Adhikar Manch.
The activist gave the example of power companies that are showing losses and have been asked to be audited. "One should know whether they are making profit or loss and what citizens are getting out of it," he added.
Former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, "If there is dishonesty on part of MMRDA in taking care of our interest, we will get to know of it. So it provides an alternative avenue where citizens will be able to take care of information about the reasons for increasing fare, and in cases of accidents."
Activists say private bodies should in any case provide information that is useful, adding that a circular of the Department of Personnel and Training, which makes it mandatory to suo motu declare section 4 details of the RTI Act, is not being followed. The section pertains to giving information about the powers, duties, manner and reasons gone into execution of a programme.
"The order will re-emphasise that point. Actually, such an order should not be needed because they (private bodies) must give such information on their own," said Venkatesh Nayak, programme co-ordinator at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, which studies functioning of RTI Act.
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