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Showing posts with label Helpline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Helpline. Show all posts

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The President Of India's Helpline Is A Waste Of Time.

Shri Christy L Fernandez,
Secretary to The President Of India,
New Delhi.

Dear Shri Fernandez,

When a citizen petitions the President of India, it is reasonable that he expects a comprehensive, well considered and honest answer.

He does not expect to be thrown back into the bureaucratic quagmire.

The following is a comment that has been published by The Economist:

divakarssathya wrote:
August 20, 2009 6:42

In my earlier comment, I had pointed out how the Indian ruling elite,The Press, The Judiciary, The Bureaucracy and of course The Political Class work together to do nothing, so that desperate citizens who value their sanity and innocence can then prostrate to them, acknowledge them as their true fathers and mothers,mai-baap, pay them a percentage of their income and eke out a living as vassals.

You had kindly permitted me to invite your esteemed readers to my blog, sathyagraha.blogspot.com, where i have documented how -

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has systematically denied me due process.

The State Information Commissioner has concocted a transparent ruse to rubbish the RTI Act 2005.

The Chief Secretary, the top bureaucrat of Andhra Pradesh, has personally supervised the false and misleading information that was fed to me and has also lied to the High court. The State Information Secretary never represented himself in the Court.

The Chief Information Commissioner, in New Delhi, has comprehensively contumed the RTI Act 2005, has chosen to not examine the false claims of the Prime Minister's Office and has punished me for standing up for the proper implementation of the Act.

Not only has the Prime Minister's Office, violated the RTI Act 2005 it has, perhaps inevitably, kept the Hon'ble Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the dark about their sordid juvenile delinquency.

The Prime Minister's Office has not answered, or even acknowledged my letter to him sent by registered post, number 9700, dated June 15, 2009.

After a great deal of work by the concerned postal authorities, I finally got the acknowledgment due for the Speed Post dated 28 July 2009 on 17th August. The letter had been delivered to the PMO on the 1st August and normally, I would have received the acknowledgment not later than a week from that date.

I had also described to you the President's helpline, launched with fanfare.

I finally received a response:

Name : Shri Divakar S Natarajan
Date of Receipt : 04 Aug 2009
Current Status : The petition is transferred
Date of Transfer : 19 Aug 2009
State Government : Government of Andhra Pradesh
Officer's Name : Shri C.R.Biswal
Designation : Principal Secretary
Address : General Administration Deptt.
3rd Floor, B Block, AP Sectt.,
Hyderabad
Telephone No. :

Note: You are requested to further liaise in the matter directly with Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, General Administration Deptt.3rd Floor, B Block, AP Sectt., Hyderabad for further information.

Well, if my President asks me to, I shall obey.

But are you and your esteemed readers, convinced that the President's intervention in this form is adequate to address the issues that I have documented ?

Or is it a, properly worded sigh of helplessness ?"

You have my cell phone number.

I will be delighted to receive your response at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

divakar.


PS Incidentally,

1. Political Secretary (GAD) CR Biswal is the same officer who supervised the stream of false and misleading statements, that I have documented.

2. He is no longer the Political Secretary (GAD). The current political secretary is Shri R M Gonella, with whom I have been in touch.