Village youth face information blues

Raipur, July 15 (UNI) The Right to Information Act proved dearer to three village youth in Chhattisgarh as the authorities slapped a bill of more than Rs one lakh for the information sought by them regarding recruitment of teachers by a block panchayat.

Trouble began for Mr Hemlal Verma, Mr Pawan Kumar Dewangan and Mr Girish Kumar of village Katgi under Kasdol block panchayat after they sought information suspecting irregularities in the recruitment of 'Shiksha karmis' (teachers appointed on honorarium basis).

Kasdol block panchayat chief executive officer provided them a huge report containing 1026 pages along with a bill of Rs 1,02,700. The bill was raised at the rate of Rs 100 per page.

''We could not collect the report as we were unable to pay the bill'', said Mr Hemlal Verma and his friends, who were in the state capital to meet Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh to apprise him about their grievances.

Alleging large scale corruption in the recruitment of 'shiksha karmis' by the Kasdol block panchayat, these youth alleged that those who secured higher percentage in examinations were not selected.

UNI JJ SP 1345