In order to discourage an NGO to seek more information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) has asked the organisation to deposit Rs 4 lakh.

The Anti-Corruption and Crime Investigation Cell, a registered NGO, had recently sought information from the MC about the embezzlement of bills which are less than Rs 5,000 and do not require clearance from the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of the MC.

The NGO wanted to know whether such bills needed to be sanctioned by the F&CC or any other competent authority. Apart from seeking details of the total money spent by various officials and departments of MC in the last two and half years, the NGO had also sought a copy of rule/bylaw/notification if bills less than Rs 5000 did not require any sanction.

In reply to the application, the Assistant Public Relations Officer (APIO) of the MC said the information could not be provided in the table form. The APIO said that there were approximately 30,000 petty works amounting to Rs 5,000. The APIO said at least five to six months time is required to give this information but copies of bills may be provided after Rs 4 lakh was deposited with the MC. Reason: there are 2 lakh pages that needed to be processed.

The APIO said bills which are less than Rs 5000 are not required to be sanctioned or approved by F&CC but are required to be sanctioned by respective zonal commissioners, superintending engineers and heads of department concerned.

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