By Our Correspondent
Pashupatinagar (Ilam), Mar 8: Chief Information Commissioner of the National Information Commission Mahendraman Gurung has stressed the need for implementing right to information in the country. Speaking at a programme organised at Mai Municipality in Ilam on Sunday, the Chief Information Commissioner said that effective implementation of the right to information would help strengthen democracy in itself.

“Implementation of the right to information helps us make our governing system more transparent and maintain good governance and accountability,” Gurung said.Chief Information Commissioner Gurung suggested the local bodies should make their expenditure details and decisions public.

Stating that more than 129 countries in the world have already implemented the provision of right to information, he said that the government should amend acts to update it to serve contemporary needs.

Gurung said that the local levels need to appoint an information officer to serve the information on public demand.“All those who do not provide information and those who manipulate or mislead the public with incomplete information will be booked for action,” he added.

Similarly, Mayor Deepak Kumar Thebe of Mai Municipality also highlighted the need for the implementation of right to information.Stating that providing information was the prime responsibility of the municipality, he said that right to information was the backbone of democracy.

According to him, people were getting frustrated towards the office and its offerings. “People think that the offices do nothing as they could not get correct information,” he said.
Mayor Thebe suggested the Information Commission to take actions against individuals and media houses who provides wrong information to the people.

Bhagirathi Pandey, secretary at the commission, presented a paper in the programme.She said that the trend of hiding information increased in recent days.“Most of the complaints they filed were for simple information which had to be published automatically,” she said.