Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 5: Bringing its capacity building endeavour to the North Eastern region of the country, Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), an Apex body of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) organized its ‘National Meet on Right To Information (RTI) Act’ in Shillong, Meghalaya.
The meet was addressed by Heera Lal Samariya, Chief Information Commissioner, CIC; H Nongpluh, State Chief Information Commissioner, Meghalaya; Atul Sobti, Director General, SCOPE and senior officials of Meghalaya Govt, Govt of India and PSEs. The meet was attended by over 80 participants from 34 PSEs.
Interacting with the participants, Heera Lal Samariya said that intention of the Right to Information Act is to foster transparency and accountability in governance. Commending the large participation in SCOPE’s workshop, he asserted that RTI is the most powerful Act. He further advised officials to facilitate information to the Public as it is their right, and be up-to-date in displaying their information in the public domain.
H Nongpluh spoke about how RTI is one of the most empowering Acts and the mindset of the Public Information Officer (PIO) is pivotal and they must be prompt in giving replies of RTIs. He also emphasized that such programs must be organized frequently to create better awareness about the Act.
Atul Sobti, in his address, shared that SCOPE decided to organize this national meet in Shillong due to the rising prominence of the city, as it takes steps towards becoming a Smart City.
Calling RTI the most unique, vital and empowering legislation, DG, SCOPE emphasized that the idea to conduct this meet across various regions was to facilitate more clarity, inform and deliberate on the various provisions of RTI.
Addressed by a unique mix of Government representatives and faculty, the interactive meet was another step by SCOPE to take its capacity building endeavour to different regions of the country, through workshops on pertinent topics ranging from Corporate Governance, Climate Change to Women Empowerment, Leadership, Digital Transformation etc.