MADURAI: RTI activist Pandiaraja, who had filed a Right to Information (RTI) petition to Northern Railway, was taken aback to receive their reply in Hindi on Sunday. The activist had made a request to the Northern Railway - Delhi Division - on 31st May this year to furnish information on elephant deaths caused by trains all over India.
His petition, which was in English language, was shared with all Railway divisions across the nation. While the Tiruvandrum and Tiruchy Railway divisions gave their reply in English, Pandiaraja received the reply in Hindi from the Varanasi, Delhi, and Bilaspur Railway divisions.
Speaking to TNIE, Pandiaraja said that usually RTI replies are given in the language of the petition (in this case, English). “Railway divisions in southern regions gave their reply in English because the questions raised were in English only. The same could not be said for Delhi, Bilaspur and Varanasi Railway divisions. This shows that the Central government is dismissing our language and neglecting our State,” he said. He has appealed to the northern Railway divisions to give him a reply in English.
He said that there have been some instances where MPs from Tamil Nadu have received an RTI reply in Hindi language from the Union government. “Even on Covid vaccination website languages other than Tamil have appeared,” he said.