Next time you loll or sit in your private loo and if it is stinking, possibly
due to choked sewage line or septic tank full up to its brim, get it drained.
Your municipal corporation’s health department has facilities and suction
machines for this very purpose. Pay required fees. But if you are still
constipating due to apathetic attitude of your municipal corporation, you will
find transparency law, RTI Act 2005, a true laxative and will felicitate this
vital activity i.e. septic tank cleaning.

Urban populace enjoys properly laid drainage system. This activity is
government monopoly. Wherever drainage system infrastructure is lacking septic
tanks are built in the corner of every plot where we built our home sweet home.
Toilets with septic tanks are must in rural areas.

On date 01/11/2007, my application for getting toilet septic tank cleaned was
processed by Health Officer of Laxminagar Zone of Nagpur Municipal Corporation
(NMC). I paid a hefty fee of INR 1210 for getting the job done. Despite
repetitious reminders I found zone office reluctant to carry out the job. All my
telephone calls and efforts were down to drains. Finally, I invoked RTI act 2005
and my toilet septic tank was cleaned within 2 days of receipt of RTI
application. RTI application was received on date 22/11 and job was done on
24/11/2007. Thanks to RTI act 2005.


Part 2: Toilet Septic Tank Cleaning: NMC Nagpur AA Finds PIO Guilty

Get your job done and keep moving this is a corporate mantra. My toilet was
smiling now and I was happy. It is a fact that majority of septic tank cleaning
requests are attended without the fees or by accepting illegal remuneration. I
wanted to prove the world wrong - Not everybody pays the bribe.

I could have ignored no response to RTI application but went personally to PIO
office to check whether RTI application was received or not. I was told that
information is ready but was not dispatched. Finally information was served to
applicant on date 11/01/2008, much later than it fell due. Although information
was prayed via postal mode, PIO sent government vehicle to my residence to
deliver the information. What to serve, how many pages to serve was not known to
delivery boy or for that matter APIO. First he first served one page
information, went back and later furnished 2 more pages.

WHAT WAS ASKED IN RTI APPLICATION?
How many applications were received by the said office, date of application,
date of fees paid, date of execution of work, amount of fees paid and name –
designation – contact number of complaint officer for a duration of 3 months.

REASONS FOR APPEAL:
1) Incomplete information, delay, poor quality of information, haphazard
manner of delivery of information and difficulties faced by applicant were
reasons for appeal. Penalty for 20 days delay was prayed
2) Septic tank cleaning via official manner is costly, tedious and requires
long waiting period was submitted as additional information.
3) Publishing SOP, standard operation policy, for septic tank cleaning was
requested to contain corruption and enforce monitoring system.

ORDER BY APPELLATE AUTHORITY (AA):
(Below is the abridged version of order passed by NMC Health CO as AA u/ RTI
act 2005 in appeal number 12 dated 27/02/2008)

Appellant, APIO and PIO were present. It is a fact that there has been delay
in providing the information. It is also an admitted fact that the information
which has been provided does not include the date of completion of work. PIO
failed to issue letter to appellant about RTI application. Thus it is clear that
the information provided to the appellant is incomplete to some extent and also
not in the proper format and has been provided after the statutory period of 35
days which includes 5 days for APIO.

The information not being in the proper format and in view of the number of
rounds which the appellant had to make to the Zonal Office and also the
difficulty in even procuring the contact number of the concerned officer, the
following measures need to be strictly followed, so that other citizens do not
face the similar situation.

a) Cash receipt will have rubber stamp impression - Work will be done
within 3 days and contact number of zone officer i.e. mobile number XXXXXXXXXX.
b) An internal circular should be issued directing the concerned officials
that monitoring should be enforced by Sanitary Inspector or Zonal Officer on day
to day basis.
c) Delay due to administrative issues or machine failure should be
intimated to applicants.

Since the delay in providing information has been confirmed and delay involves
at central & zone level, PIO should examine and fix up the responsibility of
delay on concerned person so that penalty per day can be levied as per RTI Act
2005.


Jai Hind
Avinash Murkute