A 32-year-old social rights activist in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district has paid Rs 1.49 lakh as photocopy charges for a 74,500-page document and demanded that the five sacks it was stored in be couriered to him under provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
However, a stalemate ensued as the government has asked him to collect the bags from Gola block office, to which he refused and demanded that either the documents be sent by post to him or his entire amount be refunded.
Activist Binu Kumar Mahto, who hails from Raipura village in Gola block, filed an application with the public information officer-cum-BDO on May 6, seeking detailed information about how the funds provided under 14th and 15th Finance Commission in Gola block from 2020 to 2023 were spent, an official said.
Gola BDO Santosh Kumar said that Mr Mahto was earlier asked to visit different panchayat secretariats for the information which he refused to do, following which the block office collected the information and stored the 74,500 pages in five sacks.
"Mahto was then asked to collect the certified documents from the block office, which he refused to do," he said.
Mr Mahto, however, said that under provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, the public information officer should send the information by post.
"I have requested the BDO to either send the documents by post or return the amount," he said.
Ramgarh Deputy Development Commissioner Robin Toppo said he will look into the matter.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
