KOCHI: The much-touted online RTI (Right to Information Act) application facility, launched by the Kerala Police last year, has reportedly hit a roadblock, with not even a single application reaching the Department. According to the RTI activists, they have been waiting for months to receive any response to the applications filed by them. They alleged that the site is just an eyewash as the Police Department is striving hard to prove transparency in its operations. “It was only when we contacted the Police Department, we came to know that the site is under maintenance,” an RTI activist said and added that it could also be an income generator for the Department as the charge for filing an application is `10. “The police are taking the public for a ride. It is their responsibility to either scrap the facility from their website or upgrade it,” he added.According to the information on the website, the applicant can send the application in the format available on the website through email. The mode of payment of application fees (postal order, money order) should be mentioned. The requested information shall be furnished by the State Public Information Officer’s only after receiving the formal application and the fee, it says. However, police officials say that they have suspended the facility due to the legal issues involved in it. “Moreover, only at a later stage that we realised that the facility is vulnerable to gross misuse. We have seen many applications asking silly questions. Hence, we were forced to stop the project midway,” said Additional Inspector General Vijayan, one of the brains behind the project.
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