Mumbai based RTI activist Anil Galgali has written an open letter to the president asking her to bring all consortium's working on PPP projects under the purview of RTI Act.

Galgali has said that since the projects carried out by the private sector companies are of vital public interest, the information about all the aspects of these projects must be brought under public domain. "There are chances that the private companies may misuse the authority given to them while carrying out these projects and make money through illegal means. This can spread in many sectors to a large extent and hence create a lot of room for scams and may even go out of control. RTI is an effective tool to curb corruption and bring a lot of information before public in general," said the letter.

Here is the full text of Glagali's letter to the president:

To

Her Excellency,

The President of India

Hon. Smt Pratibhatai Patil

 

            Sub: Bringing all consortium's working on PPP projects under the purview of RTI Act, 2005

 

Respected Madam,

I hope this letter finds you in best of health. As a young Indian and an active social worker in the field of Right to Information (RTI) act, I am writing to you expressing my views and making some humble suggestions in the field of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in various sectors of the country.
The country, especially metro cities and even the tier II cities such as Hyderabad, Bangaluru and Pune are witnessing a sea of change with a lot of importance being given to infrastructure development. Projects ranging from power sector to Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) such as metro railways are being conceived and constructed using a unique financial model of PPP- which is a brain child of our Planning Commission. The basic idea behind the PPP model is to save on government revenue and involvement of private sector companies for more professional services in various sectors. While the PPP model has its advantages, there are certain areas of concerns, which I would like to point out for your kind perusal.
First of all, most of the PPP projects will have a more significant control of private sector companies. Being a Mumbaikar, I will site an example of Mumbai metro line I and line II (Bhoomipujan of the same was done by your hands in February 2009). While metro line I will have 26% stakes of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), line II will have only one golden of the authority. Both metro lines are to be constructed by Reliance Infrastructure along with other foreign private companies. While my demand to bring Reliance Infrastructure under the purview of RTI has been accepted by State Information Commissioner (CIC), the same has been challenged by the company in the Bombay High Court.

It is my humble suggestion that Hon President will appreciate that all the private companies, working in the field of PPP projects along with any Joint Venture with any state government or central government should be brought under the purview of RTI. Since the projects carried out by the private sector companies are of vital public interest, the information about all the aspects of these projects must be brought under public domain. There are chances that the private companies may misuse the authority given to them while carrying out these projects and make money through illegal means. This can spread in many sectors to a large extent and hence create a lot of room for scams and may even go out of control. RTI is an effective tool to curb corruption and bring a lot of information before public in general. Hence my humble submission is to bring in all the PPP projects and their consortiums under the purview of RTI.
 

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully

Anil Galgali

President

Athak Seva Sangh,

Mumbai.