Chalakudy councillor stages sit-in protest, gets RTI reply in 3 hours after 52-day delay

Chalakudy: What will you do if a response is not received for an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act? The Opposition Parliamentary Party Leader in Chalakudy municipality, C S Suresh, has an answer.

When the municipality secretary failed to respond to his query for 52 days, he staged a sit-in protest outside the official's chamber. The protest did not last long: he got a response in three hours.

Suresh filed an application in connection with the municipality's much-hyped Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP). The plant, installed at the civic body's Kalabhavan Mani Park, has allegedly been non-operational, even though it was set up with great gusto.

According to norms, RTI applications filed in councillors' letterheads should be accorded priority, and the response should be provided within 24 hours. However, Suresh said he did not get a reply for 52 days. He alleged that the ruling party purposefully delayed replying to the RTI application in connivance with the municipality officials so that the public would not know the reality of the ₹50 lakh plant.

Suresh said he filed the application on June 17. The response he received yesterday said the plant has been functional, and 27 septic tanks were cleaned. The reply further said there was no guarantee period for the plant, and the municipality has received ₹1.24 lakh.

The RTI reply by the manager of the municipality's Clean City project also said ₹5,000 each was charged for 19 houses. Additionally, the civic body received ₹20,000 from a temple located outside the municipality limits and ₹9,500 from Koratty panchayat.

Interestingly, the reply was dated June 27. The authorities explained that though the reply was prepared without delay, the municipality forgot to forward it to the applicant.

The FSTP was inaugurated in March 2024.