Kolkata MC to recruit retired officers as IO

KOLKATA, July 30: For proper implementation of the Right to
Information Act (RTI) Kolkata Municipal Corporation will seek the help
of its retired officers. A notice has been issued by the chief manager (revenue) in this regard. Those candidates who are interested have been asked to submit
their resume within 15 days.

It may be recalled that KMC had already decided to set up offices to
provide information under the RTA in the building and assessment-collection departments. The offices would be headed by the director general (building) and chief manager (revenue). Earlier, only the deputy municipal commissioner (personnel) used to deal with queries under the RTA. The West Bengal Information Commission has pulled up the KMC for not replying to the queries made by the people within a stipulated time.

Most of the applications that the KMC received seek information regarding building and assessment-collection departments. To make the process easy two new offices have been opened to provide information to the applicants. Steps have already been taken by the civic authorities to make its employees well versed with the Right to Information Act. To make the RTA wing in the assessment department foolproof, the help of ex-employees who retired recently or within a year was sought .

To make the employees well conversant with the functioning of the department, KMC will recruit them for six months on a temporary basis. KMC is still working on the remuneration package. A senior official in the assessment-collection department said the regular employees are heavily burdened with work and that makes it difficult for them to go through the applications and provide information accordingly within the stipulated time.
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by Tarun Goswami, The Statesman