Bhubaneswar: An organisation of RTI activists in the state Friday demanded that the government provide them with adequate protection as have been the targets of various anti-social elements and unscrupulous persons, especially after the murder of an RTI activist in Kandhmal Tuesday early morning.
The victim, Abhimanyu Panda, was shot dead by unknown assailants in front of his house, located just a few meters away from the Baliguda police station.
At a press conference convened in the city Friday, the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan (OSAA) demanded that Panda’s next of kin be recompensed a sum of `25 lakh.
Meanwhile, a fact finding team of the OSAA visited the residence of Panda and met his relatives and local villagers. The team claimed to have ascertained that Abhimanyu had filed around 70 RTI applications seeking information on various alleged irregularities — distribution of paddy under Public Distribution System (PDS) and construction of different roads under the State Highway Development Projects by a contractor from Andhra Pradesh.
He reportedly filed around 50 RTI applications with the Panchayat Samiti of K. Nuagaon, Phulbani, G. Udayagiri and Daringbadi and few other Gram Panchayats seeking information, including details of allotment and distribution of rice to the beneficiaries ( year-wise) under the PDS scheme and names of beneficiaries dropped from this scheme in each Gram Panchayat.
Panda is also reported to have earned the wrath of some local influential persons who are in the management committee of Baliguda Jagannath Temple. He had allegedly filed four writ petitions before the Orissa High Court and the Endowment Commission of Odisha seeking eviction of several squatters from the land belong to temple.
Abhimanyu also raised his voice against the liquor mafia opening ‘ON’ liquor shops in Baliguda area few months ago.
Members of the OSAA expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation process and sought an impartial probe by a Special Investigation Team of the Odisha police. The organisation alleged that the local police officials were also ‘hamd in glove’ with the local mafia and deeply involved in the various irregularities in the region.