Public agencies are cagey to release information: Chief Commissioner Gurung

Kathmandu / June 27: Chief Commissioner at the National Information Commission, Mahendra Man Gurung, complained that public offices were cagey. It is difficult to elicit information from Nepal’s public offices, he reiterated.

During a programme organized by the RTI Federation here today, Chief Commissioner Gurung shared that many information seekers were forced to appeal at NIC to prod the public agencies to abide by the citizen’s right to information.

“We’ve have been fighting for guaranteeing citizen’s rights. Even the constitutional bodies were urged to pay heed to this regard. Once the information were shared by the requesters, it helped bring changed in the concerned institutions,” he explained, adding that NIC’s attention was drawn towards the arrest of six citizens for merely requesting information at Gokarneshwor municipality, Kathmandu.

The NIC had reminded the lawmakers on removing the provision in the ongoing education bill that mentions ‘keeping documents secret’.

Meanwhile, noted RTI activist Taranath Dahal argued that youth RTI activists from Gokarneshwor were harassed with false charge for their effort to expose corruption and financial sleaze. “Although in the beginning, I thought the RTI activists followed wrong way, I later realized that they were harassed with false allegation,” he added.

However, Joint Spokesperson at Nepal Police, Bishwo Adhikari, viewed police investigation is always based on evidence, and information could be sought even on the RTI activists of Gokarneshwor.

Federation Chair Umid Bagchand also argued that the Gokarneshwor incident was pre-planned. If the activists were not released within two days, Federation would wage agitation, he warned. RSS