RTI watchdog seeks CWG info

The alleged Commonwealth Games scam might turn out to be much bigger after government agencies upload all the details of their Games-related projects on their respective websites. The Right to Information watchdog has directed the agencies to make the information public. Neelam Pandey reports.

The alleged Commonwealth Games scam might turn out to be much bigger after government agencies upload all the details of their Games-related projects on their respective websites. The Right to Information (RTI) watchdog has directed the agencies to make the information public.

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The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Delhi government, New Delhi Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation of Delhi to reveal all details about their tendering processes of all Games projects in the last five years.

The CIC has issued a set pattern under which all the details have to be furnished - the government agencies will have to reveal the number of people who applied for the tenders of a said Games contract, date of completion of the project and whether any penalty was

levied. The CIC, in a letter written to all agencies on August 10, said that a lot of information about the agencies was not available in the public domain, as it should be under Section 4 of the RTI Act.

The commission said the government agencies should provide more "transparency" in its dealings. By doing so, it will also "reduce the load of RTI applications", the CIC added.

"We found out that a number of agencies had not uploaded a lot of details regarding the Commonwealth Games projects including the tendering process on their websites. We have now directed Delhi government, MCD and NDMC to furnish such details which will help curb corruption, as everything will be available in the public domain," said Shailesh Ghandhi, Central Information Commissioner.

While the Delhi government and the NDMC have to furnish all details by September 15, the MCD has been given time till September 30.