“Hello, I’m calling from Fatehpur. The ration shop near my house is refusing to give me my ration. I was told you can help me out. My name is Ram Khiladi. I’m a fruit seller...”

“I am Dr Neeta Gupta calling from Jammu. I’m facing some problem in getting my voter ID done. Can you tell me if the Right to Information Act applies to my state?”

“My name is GV Manjunathan and I am calling from Bangalore. Some people are encroaching on the land in front of my house. I want a plan of the road in front. Can you tell me how I can get it using my right to information, and who should I contact?”

These are some of the 100 calls received every day by the first national RTI helpline (92504-00100 ) launched two months ago. Farmers or celebrities, residents of Kashmir or Kochi, people seek assistance on a range of problems — some want to know what RTI is and some ask how and where the form should be submitted.

The Gurgaon-based call centre, to which the helpline is routed, says it has received almost 6,000 calls so far.

“The response has been better than we expected. In the first month, almost all calls were from cities. But now, about a third come from small towns and villages,” said an assistant manager at the BPO, not wishing to be named.

The centre, financed by the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust, was set up to help people exercise their right to information, as many of those who knew about the RTI Act were not familiar with the procedure of using it.

... contd.