Odisha Development Conclave, Transparency and Jagadanand Mohanty
( Bulletin-2)
Whether it was Development Conclave or
Show of Jagadanand Mohanty of CYSD
I
got opportunity to come
across the agenda of 3-day programme of Odisha Development Conclave-2018, but could not
find any plenary session devoted
for discussion on RTI- A tool for
transparency and accountable governance in
the country, Lokpal and Lokayukta,
Grievance Redressal mechanism etc. Good Governance is much-discussed buzz word in
Civil Society Forum in the state. Many NGOs are also working on
governance issues in the state and advocate
for transparency in the administration,
though very few of
them work on RTI.
As I have seen, Sri Jagadand
Mohanty also projected himself great advocate
of good governance . He had also served
as State Information Commissioner for five years ( 2008-13), a transparency watch-dog under RTI Act. However, during this period, we have exposed
him how he as Information Commissioner has acted
to destroy RTI Act in the state establishing unholy alliance with corrupt bureaucracy
and demoralized RTI Activists and discouraged them
from carrying out their mission
to fight for transparency and accountability in the administration. When
we exposed his true character publicly and his ignorance about law and lack of expertise to adjudicate
the case, he influenced the then State
Chief Information Commissioner to file
defamation case against me and Chitta
Behera in the court of First Class
Judicial magistrate , Bhubaneswar in
October, 2010. The case is pending in the
court till today.
However,
without being disturbed by this conspiracy of
Information Commission, we continue
to bring to limelight about
his dangerous performance as
Information Commissioner. After his tenure is over, As I have seen, he keeps discussing about RTI and transparent governance
in various public meetings.
But I got astonished why
the same person failed to
keep a session devoted for discussion on RTI in Odisha Development Conclave and transparency
about source of funding mobilized from different
sources. I was asking many of my friends
about source of funding for this mega event. But nobody could speak about it. Nobody
knows about it. They said that CYSD people were managing and controlling
everything. All the NGOs who also participated in this conclave are hardly aware
about the source. Many people are alleging
that Sri Jagadanand and his NGO
CYSD has mobilized huge fund from corporate house
in form of funding and also
advertisement. Same issue was also cropped up in
Odisha Development Conclave-2016, as the NGOs are still in dark about
source of fund and its utilization.
Odisha,
our beloved state, endowed with huge natural resources and man power
is still suffering from hunger, malnutrition and earned notoriety
for being highest poverty stricken population
in the country. It is due to maladministration, corruption and lack of
transparency and accountability. Since 2005, the State Government has tried its
best to dilute and destroy RTI Act in the
State and Odisha Information Commission like Sri Jagadanand Mohanty has contributed to it. The office of Lokpal was closed.
Lokayukta was not appointed . So unless transparency is
enforced , corruption cannot be checked
and effective administration can not be streamlined. Transparency in administration can ensure effective
delivery of services to the people and generate public demand to access to
services meant for them. The decade-long fight of RTI Activists has contributed
a little in this field and exposed huge scams
and brought to limelight true
character of Nabin Patnaik, most
corrupt chief Minister in history of Odisha.
So
any programme without transparency and accountability is big zero. The organizers
of Odisha Development Conclave and NGOs involved in this process must realize
it
which is demand of the time. I
appeal them to
immediately disclose the details of source of funding and
allocation of fund for different
activity of the Conclave in order to set an example in NGO sector. Sudarshan Chhotaray ,
journalist of the Pioneer was sharing
with me that
when he asked about
source of funding for conclave
in press meet, Sri Jagadanand and others
got terribly disturbed and did
not reply anything which has already been highlighted
in “ the Orissa Pioneer”.
We
the RTI Activists are not sitting idle.
20 RTI Applications are being
filed tomorrow to
different offices including CYSD , Bhubaneswar seeking
information about budget, source of funding, various activity
including bill and vouchures.
We
should also remember that any collective programme can not
be one-man show and one-man propaganda. It is
very dangerous trend and practice of feudal
culture in Odisha which
is against the spirit of
democracy. The learned NGO leaders
must be aware and cautious about
it.
Pradip Pradhan
RTI Activist, Odisha
M-9937843482
Date- 27.8.18
