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Monday, June 22, 2009 : 1145 Hrs       

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RTI enthusiasts set up interactive web portal 

Chandigarh (IANS): If you want information under the Right to Information (RTI) 
Act, just visit a new web portal to find out how. The site has been set
up - not by the government - but by people and groups in Chandigarh who want to 
spread awareness about this right. 

The interactive online web portal - www.rightto.info - has come up thanks to 
the RTI Users Association which aims to form a strong network of RTI users
across the country. 

"We have constituted this forum so that RTI users from all over the country can 
exchange their knowledge and findings and interact among each other. This
organisation will provide them an easy platform to run and support various 
activities that are of larger public interest," Hemant Goswamy, coordinator
of the association, told IANS. 

He said the organisation, which is an initiative of likeminded people, is still 
in the nascent stage and will take some time to have a proper organisational
structure in all the States. "However, we have initiated our activities from 
Punjab and Haryana," he said. 

Mr. Goswamy said any individual who is using the RTI could join them and upload 
his information on their website, which anyone can access. It also has a
special section for youth to solve their queries and apprehensions regarding 
the RTI Act. 

"We will also organise various activities, seminars, debates and discussions 
touching upon the burning topics that immediately concern our society at regular
intervals," Mr. Goswamy said. 

"Anybody, whether he is using the RTI to highlight a corrupt and unlawful 
activity or for the betterment of society, can join us. We would work in the 
most
transparent and responsible manner," he added. 

Kamal Anand, another member of the association, said: "The RTI Act is a 
valuable tool in the hands of the common man to make our government and 
bureaucracy
more accountable towards their work and decisions." 

"Since its enactment, hundreds of scams and anomalies have been unearthed by 
the use of RTI. In the last four years, all the RTI users of the region had
felt a need for greater interaction and further dissemination of knowledge 
about this act among the public," he said. 

The youth of the region are also very enthusiastic about the concept of this 
association. 

"I have seen many things going wrong right under the nose of top officials of 
our administration, but we cannot do anything. Sometimes I wanted to seek
information through RTI but dropped the idea as I was not aware of its 
procedure," Radhika Rai, a journalism student here, told IANS. 

"There are many friends of mine who were not using RTI because of similar 
reasons but now I guess we all have an easy solution for our problem," she 
added.


Mayank Sharma, a young entrepreneur based here, said: "This association of RTI 
users is a unique thing in Chandigarh and I will certainly join it. I think
the mere presence of such a group involving well-aware people will 
automatically make things better." 


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