Info commission disappointed at poor response from NGOs;

Financial Express Bangladesh; Dhaka, Friday March 25 2011,

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Muhammad Zamir, former ambassador, said Thursday that non-government organisations (NGOs) have so far sent few designated officers' names to the Information Commission of Bangladesh (ICB) that created difficulties for the people in getting particular information.

"Only 310 NGOs out of about 23 thousand have sent their designated officers' names to the commission. The number of government departments' designated officers is now about 6,700 who will provide information to the people," he said at a workshop in the capital.

The CIC said the RTI Act- 2009, which was passed in Parliament on July 1, 2009, allows the designated officers to supply relevant information to the people.

"It took about 19 months to get the designated officers' names of a leading NGO of the country. Those who claim themselves to be members of the civil society should have to maintain transparency, while dealing with others'," he said at the workshop on 'Challenges pertaining to the effective implementation of the Right to Information (RTI)' as the chief guest at the conference room of the LGED Bhaban at Agargaon.

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organised the programme with Farooq Sobhan, president of the organisation, in the chair.

Consulting editor of the Financial Express and former chief editor of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury presented the key-note paper, which was read out by Project Director (PD) of BEI Shahab Enam Khan as Mr Chowdhury could not attend the workshop.

Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology Abdur Rob Howlader and Information Commissioner Muhammad Abu Taher were present.

Underscoring the importance of the media's role in the successful implementation of the RTI, the CIC said, "There should be a column in the newspaper and a time should be allocated by the electronic media so that people could send their comments and suggestions on the RTI that could help us take necessary measures accordingly".

Abdur Rob Howlader said democracy could not function without proper sharing of information. RTI should be viewed as a basic right of the people, if we want to see real democracy.