KARIMNAGAR: For the first time in the country, a civil rights organisation, under the Right to Information Act, got to inspect records at the District Supplies Office here on Wednesday, to learn about the pendency of applications for ration cards.
The organisation, Council for Civil rights (CCR), sought to inspect the office and obtained clearance from the District Supplies Office by invoking relevant provisions of the Act. The CCR activists inspected records and files at the District Supplies Office, led by applicant Juvaji Raj Kumar and about 10 other members of the organisation. The section officer on duty showed them around and allowed them to go through the records of the applications pending at various stages for the issue of ration cards.
During the inspection, they asked the staff why the pendency was so high and was told that it was because of a delay at the field level. According to official records, 10,447 applications for ration cards are pending at various stages. RTI applicant Raj Kumar told Express that their petition to inspect the District Supplies Office was only to raise awareness among people about the use of Section (j) (i) of the RTI Act so that they can get to know for themselves if anything was amiss in an office.