Shiv Prakash, farmer from Buxar uses RTI to expose scams: Bihar has a hero!
Patna: according to a recent press report, Bihar now has its own RTI hero, a figure to emulate! Since 2005, Shiv Prakash a farmer made use of the very handy RTI provisions to unearth information for the benefit of farmers in Sarinja village in Buxar district. Fearless Prakash blew the whistle on a tubewell scam despite threats to his well-being. As is known, the Centre offers a 35% subsidy to poor farmers for the purchase of hand pumps and installation of tube wells. Through RTI documents, Prakash found huge anomalies in the claims of the local administration and exposed them.
Shiv Prakash foubd that 1,000 tubewells listed by the authorities bought from shops which did not exist. In his district alone, Prakash estimates the fraud to be to the tune of Rs 10 crore. In 2006, Prakash asked the Buxar DM office for the list of people who had availed of the Sikhsit Berozgar Yojna [a scheme for educated jobless youth] and bought tube wells and hand pumps with government subsidy.
‘I had a hunch that crores of money had been taken out from the government funds in the name of non-existent people’, Shiv Prakash told a reporter. Predictably, he got no response from Buxar DM.
Shiv Prakash then approached the Bihar Information Commission. The commission acted upon his complaints and asked the DM for an explanation. In February 2008, the DM called Prakash to his office and ‘the DM gave me nine pieces of blank paper. He forced me to write that I had received the information I had asked for,’ he says. When he protested, threats began and he was thrown in the lock-up. An FIR was lodged saying that Prakash had tried to kill the DM. After 29 days behind bars, Prakash was let off due to lack of evidence.
The news report mentions that Prakash is currently educating villagers about the power of the RTI. There is a need however to remember that the whistleblowers so admired by us lead dangerous lives – they need our support, assurance and even protection.
[Courtesy: Tehelka, The Hindustan Times]
can i get the no of prakash as i am from the same district i ,because i am not in buxar at present but i want to get hands with him to get rid from this tyoe of scandals.