Farmer sells cow, gets cartload of RTI documents from gram panchayat in Arkalgud

HASSAN: A farmer from Basavanahalli village in Arkalgud taluk was forced to sell his cow to obtain documents under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. He had filed applications seeking documents related to various works undertaken by the Kalahanalli Gram Panchayat, suspecting corruption in the implementation of these projects.

Despite repeated attempts, the panchayat authorities did not provide the farmer, B S Ravi, with the documents, and instead, asked him to pay Rs 32,740 as fees for 16,370 pages of documents. The authorities asked Ravi to pay Rs 2 per page for the documents, which he couldn’t afford.

The farmer sold his cow to raise money to pay for the RTI documents.

Unable to bear the financial burden, Ravi sold his cow for Rs 25,000 and borrowed the remaining amount from friends to pay the fees. After obtaining the documents, Ravi transported them to his home in a bullock cart. He now plans to thoroughly examine the documents for evidence of corruption and, if necessary, file a complaint with the Lokayukta.

Ravi got the documents through the post office.

Ravi’s determination to fight against corruption has been unwavering, despite attempts to dissuade him from pursuing the matter. Some gram panchayat members even lodged a false complaint against him at the police station, but Ravi remained undeterred. He is now determined to expose any irregularities and bring the guilty to justice.