Guj babus squirm as small traders take recourse to RTI
Paul John | TNN
Ahmedabad: Greasing palms of government officials to push files forward is a
nightmare any small and medium businessman has lived through. But now a new
breed of businessmen has started using the Right to Information Act to get
back at the babus who sit on payments, postpone approvals, delay exemptions
and even harass businessmen for a bribe.
General manager of Maniar Group Hemant Bhatt had been demanding his
earnest money deposit (EMD) from various nagarpalikas and municipal
corporations in Maharashtra and Gujarat for the last three years. His
company supplies solid waste management equipment. The EMD should be
returned to the bidder within 30 to 90 days after the tendering process is
over, but Bhatt says it was only after he filed applications under RTI
demanding reasons for the delay that the civic bodies cleared his payments.
“I had Rs 40 lakh pending with the nagarpalikas. Small and medium
enterprises (SME) like ours work on credit and face a severe cash crunch.
Some babus would lighten our pockets to get payments in time. RTI has
eliminated this hurdle,” says Bhatt.
Similarly, Ashwin Gandhi of Crane Hiring Company in Vadodara got back at
IOC when the oil major delayed a Rs 40 lakh payment after hiring cranes for
its Barauni plant. “Because IOC has to make payments in 30 days, I have
filed an RTI application asking why there are delays,” he says.
Ashwin Patel, a manufacturer and trader of pharmaceutical products, has
demanded information under RTI from the Central Medical Stores Organisation
(CMSO) for the list of dealers who have been supplying medicines to
government hospitals. “I was aware of the CMSO procuring medicines from
agencies that did not possess a Good Manufacturing Practices certificate.
Because CMSO has not provided satisfactory answers, we have appealed to the
state chief information officer,” says Patel.