The Quint: Delhi: Saturday, March 24, 2018.
“We get very
excited every time we get a reply to an RTI filed by us,” says Urmilla Devi, a
resident of Savda Ghevra Slum Resettlement Colony, the largest slum
rehabilitation project in Delhi. Residents of Savda Ghevra were relocated here
in 2006 from slums near Pragati Maidan, where stadiums and other sporting
facilities were constructed for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
However, when
the slum dwellers were first relocated to Savda Ghevra, the colony was devoid
of almost all basic civic amenities such as access to clean water, sanitation
facilities, public transport, public health centres etc.
Emboldened
by RTIs
But when the
women of Savda Ghevra colony were apprised on Right To Information (RTI) Act,
by the NGO MARG, they started filing a series of RTIs to get their due. The
women started seeing change on the ground as the first RTIs were filed, asking
why only a handful of water tankers are sent to the colony that houses over
40,000 families.
Soon they
received replies from the local administration informing them of the civic
amenities extended to the colony. Thereafter, more RTIs were filed and in a
matter of months the water tanker services were streamlined. Not only were the
water tanker services streamlined, but the host of RTIs filed by the women of
Savda Ghevra forced the Delhi Jal Board to install GPS devices on each tanker
to ensure that water is not stolen.
Not An
Easy Road
With renewed
confidence the women of the colony filed more RTIs demanding amenities such as
better sanitation, public toilets, higher frequency of buses, public health
centres and many more.
With the
filing of each RTI, the women watched their colony transform as more and more
issues were addressed. In all, over 200 RTIs were filed by the women to
different government departments demanding various services.
However, this
journey has not been hunky-dory for the women as they have been repeatedly
threatened and, on some occasions, even assaulted by tanker drivers for filing
RTIs. Yet, they could not dissuade the women who finally understood that their
strength lies in numbers. They even took some of the goons to court on charges
of assault.
Today Urmilla
Devi, who heads the team of women rooting for change in Savda Ghevra, insists
on one thing, “All those women and men who live in slums and are not aware of
what rights they are entitled to, should file an RTI. I don’t know whether the
government is scared of RTIs, but it’s a very powerful instrument to effect
change.”
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