RTI training programme begins in Ludhiana

About 30 officers/officials of different ranks of various departments of District administration Ludhiana participating in programme

Ludhiana, July 22, 2019: Aiming to achieve the goal of good governance and bringing about transparency and accountability in the Punjab Government departments, Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration Punjab (MGSIPA), Regional Centre, Patiala organised a three-day RTI training programme for Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs) under Right to Information Act, 2005 here today.

About 30 officers/officials of different ranks of various departments of District administration Ludhiana are participating in this programme.

Pardeep Singh Bains, District Revenue Officer, Ludhiana while launching the event said that the RTI Act is an important tool to empower the people in a democracy, besides bringing about transparency and accountability in administration at all levels. He encouraged the officers to update their knowledge about this Act on the basis of tips given by the RTI experts in this 3-days programmes.

Jarnail Singh, Coordinator, RTI Centre, MGSIPA Chandigarh while interacting with the participants said that this training programme, sponsored by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Govt. of India has been conceptualised by KBS Sidhu, Special Chief Secretary-cum-DG and Jaspreet Talwar, Secretary to Government of Punjab –cum-Director MGSIPA. The program aims to sensitise the concerned officers about the RTI Act and also to make them aware of the latest developments based on the judgments of the Central/State Information Commission and Hon'ble Courts.

He further said that this is a pro-people act and the MGSIPA organizes such programmes in all the districts to generate awareness about the features of this significant Act. He said that the MGSIPA Institute organises over 300 programmes every year on the various subject like RTI, Sevottom, Office Procedures, Civil Service Rules, Financial Management, Soft Skills & etc. besides providing consultancy, publications and dissemination of ideas/information in an integrated manner. A pool of resource persons, experts of eminence in various disciplines are associated with training programmes.

Amarjeet Singh Sodhi, Project Coordinator, MGSIPA Regional Centre, Patiala gave an introduction about the RTI Programme and its schedule and details of the faculty. On the first day of three days programme Mr DC Gupta, IDAS (Retd.) distinguished RTI expert and Dr Shiv Kumar Dogra, Associate Professor, Law Department Punjab University Regional Centre Ludhiana delivered sessions on different aspects of RTI Act, 2005. On second and third day senior faculty on RTI Act, 2005 has been invited to take sessions.