Bad roads - Man takes samples for tests under RTI Act

Bad roads - Man takes samples for tests under RTI Act

Why did a newly laid road near your society crack and turn into rubble? Just ahead of monsoons an RTI applicant from Kalupur wanted to know how roadworks in the central zone are being undertaken and whether proper quality parameters are met or not. Kalupur resident Pankaj Bhatt was allowed by the Gujarat Information Commission to take road samples almost a month ago. But he finally got a chance on Monday night to inspect a fresh batch of materials used in an ongoing road construction project in Shahibaug under the RTI Act. Bhatt examined whether the temperature of the asphalt is maintained, whether the mettle used was being weighed before being used for roadwork. Bhatt pulled out the road construction manual and pointed out that the weighing machine was not calibrated and also suggested a few more tips from the manual to ensure quality work. Bhatt even took samples of the material and have given them to be tested at a government lab. “We prepared three small sacks of the road sample, one of which stays with the applicant, one with the contractor and the third is given to government accredited lab which is appointed for inspection of road material for tests,” says Bhatt. The AMC ward official had remained present during the entire process and has said that Bhtt will be provided with a test certificate of the samples under RTI Act. It was in early April that state information commissioner Subhash Soni ordered the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to provide a citizen samples from the fresh batch of materials used in an ongoing road construction project under the RTI Act within 15 days. Bhatt took advantage of the very first section of the RTI Act, which defines “Right to Information” as the right to “inspection of work, documents, records; taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records and even taking certified samples of material. The commission had also went a step further and asked the AMC to provide the RTI applicant a copy of ‘test certificate’ against the material whose sample was provided to the citizen within 15 days. “Though ‘seeking samples, copy of test reports of civic works or inspection of on-site civic works’ comes under them purview of the RTI Act, not many citizens have exercised this right,” says Bhatt.