Railways To Strict RTI Norms After Disclosing PM Selfie Booths Costs (image: twitter.com/MasterxGogo)
As the Right to Information (RTI) reply concerning the cost of 3D selfie booths of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at various railway stations has sparked controversy, days after the details became public, the Indian Railways made the norms around providing information under the RTI Act stricter. As per the revised norms, all replies must be approved by General Managers of Zonal Railways or Divisional Railway Managers in the divisions.
As per the reply, for installing each selfie booths or selfie points, Rs. 1, 25,000 to Rs. 6,25,000, excluding taxes has been incurred, and this cost has been approved by the Central Bureau of Communication under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Ajay Bose, a social activist from Amravati district lodged an RTI application with five Railway zones – Central Railway, Western Railway, Southern Railway, Northern Railway, and North Western Railway, requesting information about the cost of the installation of PM selfie points. He has received several responses, but except Central Railway, none of the divisions gave proper answer concerning the cost of the 3D selfie booths.
Abhay Mishra, Deputy General Manager of Central Railway, has gave the information in response to Ajay Bose”s RTI query and soon his senior, Shivraj Manaspure, the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) has been transferred without giving any notice. Generally, the tenure of CR’s CPRO continues two years and Shivraj has been in the position for just seven months. However, dismissing any connection between RTI reply with the transfer, senior railway officials said it was for operational reasons.
Sharing the newspaper reports on Shivraj Manaspure, he wrote on X: “Emperor”s pleasure, truth”s reward is punishment!”
शहंशाह की रज़ा, सच का इनाम सज़ा! pic.twitter.com/s3XJ66G2oS
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 3, 2024
Prior to the transfer order, the Railway board had sent an advisory urging all GMs and DRMs to exercise caution while handling information under RTI Act. Besides, the advisory underlined that the RTI pleas handled by the zonal railways and other field units showed decline in quality. Therefore, now onwards, the replies would be cleared by the General Manager and Divisional Railway Managers.
The Railways had nominated a Public Information Officer and Chief Public Information Officer under provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, to provide information sought by petitioners. General Managers or Divisional Railway Managers have no role as appellate or competent authority as per the Act, The Hindu quotes as sources in the Southern Railway said.
