Mumbai: Tired of being denied information to the citizens, the residents of Kalina have chosen a unique way of protesting against ignorant civic officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of H/East ward. Kalina residents have been gathering at public places with placards asking the question if the ‘Right To Information Act’ has turned into a ‘Right to Deny Information Act’ in the ward.
About The Protest
A few proactive residents of Kalina, who came together to form an Advanced Locality Management by the name Voice of Kalina (VOK), have been keeping the civic officials on their feet by asking tough questions, seeking accountability, and highlighting corruption at the ward level. The Free Press Journal has earlier reported about VOK highlighting corruption in the Rs 1.88 lakh ‘golden gate scam’, missing dustbins worth Rs 10.97 lakh, and the Rs 34.73 lakh traffic islands beautification scam.
However, the members have alleged that the BMC officials have been withholding information from the residents using the Right To Information Act 2005. The members allege that the officials have been denying information by providing vague reasons in those cases that raise corruption concerns among the citizens.
In one such recent incident in April, the assistant engineer of the maintenance department in H/East ward, Deepak Jadhav, denied information about the allotment of alternative accommodation under the project-affected people (PAP) scheme in a reply to the RTI query. “In the official reply, he cited sections that are irrelevant and then verbally told me that he cannot share the information related to this matter. The officials are running scams through the PAP scheme and play this trick so that we get tired and frustrated,” said Melvin Fernandes, a member of VOK, who sought the information.
About Another Incident
In a similar incident, another VOK member, Clarence Pinto, sought information regarding the Golden Gate scam in October 2024, which was not provided by Jadhav. The first appellate authority in January 2025 ordered the official to provide information within a week, but he has failed to do so even after four months.
“I have filed a complaint with the central information commissioner under section 18, but it takes around two years for the authority to take up an issue. This is exactly what these officials want. They want us to keep investing our time trying with different measures to ask for information, and by the time we see a significant result, they are transferred to another department,” said Pinto.
After countless requests, complaints, and protests, the residents have now turned to peaceful public demonstrations through placards. The ALM members meet at public parks and gardens to discuss their plan to tackle the censorship of information and also display placards expressing their resentment against the civic officials. The placards in English and Marathi raise questions about the right of citizens to exercise the RTI Act and the assistant engineer (maintenance) of the H/E ward.
“We are professionals and have our businesses and jobs, but we spend the majority of the time in social activism with an aim that we might see good governance. Such officials have been trying hard to conceal information, but we have successfully unearthed multiple scams done by them and will keep doing so,” added Fernandes.
