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Mumbai, September 28: From the foul Mumbra creekside, Hiralal Ramnarayan Gupta (51) saw two black squiggles growing on the grim horizon. As he walked home along potholes, crystallising in his mind was the typeset of another battle on paper.
‘‘We’ve complained,’’ he says, a week later. ‘‘Those are hooch-makers burning rubber tyres for fuel.’’
Gupta will wait—‘‘several companions on my morning walk already complain of a heaviness in the chest’’—but if the smoke spirals don’t fade, he will file an application under the Maharashtra Right To Information Act, 2002 (MRTI). He’ll demand reports on anti-hooch action in Mumbra, 40 km north of Mumbai.
As president of FOCUS—a two-year-old association of 40-odd organisations in Mumbra and Kausa—Gupta has a file bursting with MRTI applications on issues ranging from illegal constructions to poor roads. The builder is himself a ready reckoner on the plucky new law.
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Who’s in charge?
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• Who’s in charge? l Gupta always
thought the Public Information Officer (PIO) was Health Officer
R T Kendre, to who his applications were addressed
• But a call to Kendre reveals
that though he’s aware of the details of the case, he’s not really
the PIO. The designated officer is his senior, Medical health Officer
Dr Sadanand Waghchowre. ‘‘He was penalised Rs 1,000, not me,’’ says
Kendre
• Dr Waghchowre admits he is
to lose Rs 1,000 from his next salary cheque. ‘‘It’s the junior’s
fault. Kendre is the informer, I am only the signing authority.’’
Turns out Kendre prepared the information, ‘‘shaam ko sign le liya
(he took my sign in the evening)’’ and the PIO was not even fully
aware of what he’d signed. Waghchowre then abruptly says Newsline
should meet him personally and discuss the matter. With that, the
call is disconnected
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‘‘None of our applications has gone as far as the Lokayukta,’’ he smiles, thick gold bracelet and finger ring gleaming in his plush Mumbra office that looks like anything but the rest of bleak Mumbra. ‘‘The authorities are beginning to respond.’’
In a July application, Gupta sought details on action taken against officers responsible for ‘‘illegally’’ dumping garbage in Mittal Compound, Mumbra. ‘‘If no action was taken, furnish details of officers responsible for the inaction,’’ it says in Marathi.
Gupta had stirred up a rather confused hornet’s nest. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) doesn’t have suitable land for dumping—the development plan never made a reservation. All of Thane city’s waste goes to bed on private land.
The reply came within the stipulated 15-day period: ‘‘The civic body has obtained a stay on a lower court’s order. The Mumbra dumping area is re-operational.’’
But Gupta says the dumping—‘‘imagine having 150 stinking acres within 500 metres of your home’’—was continuing even before the stay order.
Two days later, he tried again. This time, he asked if the TMC had permission under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2000, to dump garbage at Mittal Compound and details on how many times the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) had objected to the dumping here.
Also, how many metres separate the dump from the Coastal Regulation Zone and from human settlements—with maps.
The second weary reply details the dump’s location, then forgets to mention permission. Worse, it directs the applicant to the MPCB and finally says it has no information on the CRZ mappings.
So what if it’s raining garbage there? Gupta appealed to the TMC commissioner both times. In the first instance, the information officer was penalised Rs 1,000 for inaccurate information. No word about making the information available.
The second appeal is coming up soon. ‘‘Maybe this time I’ll get the documents,’’ Gupta says. For now, the dumping has slowed.
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