Only 201 non-government organisations out of some 30,000 have employed public information officers as required by the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2009, said Chief Information Commissioner Muhammad Zamir yesterday.
“I will write to the NGO Affairs Bureau to cancel registration of those NGOs which are yet to appoint RTI officers,” he said while addressing a gathering at a public lecture on Right to Information and Mass Media organised by Journalism Training and Research Institute (JATRI) at the city’s Karwan Bazar.
About the challenges of implementing the RTI act, he said the grass-roots people do not have access to information because of the designated RTI officers not cooperating with them.
Besides, the corporate houses are not made accountable to people for their corporate social responsibilities by the act.
The corporate houses should be brought under the act, the information commissioner noted.
He also said 6.5 crore cellphone users will be made aware of RTI through short message services (SMS). An agreement will be signed with private mobile phone operator Robi very soon in this regard and agreement with Grameenphone is in the pipeline.
He reiterated that the RTI should be included in the curricula of class eight, nine and ten.
“Students will play the role of a representative to spread message of the RTI to people,” said Zamir. He further urged the media to come forward to create awareness about RTI.
Barrister Monzoor Hasan presided over the lecture while Jamil Ahmed, chief of JATRI, also addressed the gathering.
