Sunshine Act
Armed with the Right to Information (RTI ) Act, septuagenarian
Mansukhlal Ruparelia is battling for his fellow silvers.
Dhanya Nair Sankar meets the resolute campaigner At the age of 77, Mansukhlal
V Ruparelia
believes retirement
doesn’t mean leading a
quiet life. After spending
42 years in the Indian Railway
Personnel Service (IRPS)—one of the
central services of the IAS—Ruparelia
is working diligently to make Mira
Road (an unglamorous part of Mumbai)
a haven for residents. Fighting to
get the roads repaired; making sure
only licensed auto rickshaws ply; or
asserting silvers’ rights for a separate
queue in post offices, municipal hospitals
and Western Railway; he has
done it all. With a sound knowledge
of the RTI Act, Ruparelia also keeps
a hawk’s eye on policies for the elderly—
he believes the National Policy
for Older People (NPOP) should be
implemented forthwith.
Ruparelia is a man with a calling.
After retiring as a deputy chief personnel
officer in 1992, he joined a
private company as advisor, but a
voice inside kept telling him to do
something ‘more meaningful’. “I have
seen seniors getting a raw deal in civic
hospitals and railways,” he observes.
“I knew I had to do something for
them. That wish became a conviction
after retirement.” In 2005, when the
RTI Act was passed, he got hold of a
copy and studied it thoroughly. “First I
filed an application to get the municipal
garden in Mira Road cleaned up,”
he recalls. “I got the desired response
within three months, which encouraged
me to file more RTIs.” Since then,
he has filed over 300 applications and
shows no sign of stopping.
If residents of Mira Road are finding
more buses and licensed rickshaws
on the road, it is owing to Ruparelia’s
relentless efforts. “There were not
enough long-distance buses from
Mira Road, while the frequency of
existing ones was bad,” he explains.
“I filed an RTI enquiry at the Thane
RTO where they had no clue about
it. Later, I met officials at Thane and
Mumbai RTO, the police and even
traffic police officials. For the past
four years I have been filing RTI applications
against these authorities.
Though the frequency of buses has
improved, there are some more unanswered
questions.” Seeing how silvers
have to bear the burden of waiting in
long queues at post offices, Ruparelia
filed another enquiry and made sure a
separate queue was set up for them.
Irked by rickshaw drivers charging exorbitant
fares in Mira Road, Ruparelia
has filed RTIs against their unions as
well. “Rickshaws charge more than
` 50 for less than 1 km,” he says.
“I have taken up the matter with their
unions, the state transport authority
and even the governor. But now a lot
more people are coming together to
complain. Only a collective force can
wake up sleeping authorities and RTI
Act is a powerful tool.”
The septuagenarian has also studied
welfare policies for silvers under the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
and has come across a rule that
all civic hospitals have to give free
treatment to those above 60 and
municipal schools have to give one
room to local citizens’ associations on
Sundays and holidays; silvers can use
this facility for their activities. When
taken up with the State Information
Commission (SIC), the case has
shown results. He also helps silvers get
their pension and settlement through
RTI Act. A case in point is his friend
Anthony Cardoze who was not getting
his settlement dues of more than
` 400,000. “I was struggling for over
three years,” reveals Cardoze. “He
filed an application on my behalf and
my dues were settled within 10 days.”
The work, though immensely satisfying,
is challenging as well. “Ministers
and directors withhold information
on the pretext of technical objections
like ‘the original letter addressed to
minister was not received’, ‘fee not
enclosed by nominated post offices
with application’, etc," says Ruparelia.
“Tackling them requires patience and
thorough knowledge of the Act.”
Family support has been the bedrock
of Ruparelia’s active silver life; his sons
encourage him, though his wife worries
sometimes. Next on his agenda is
the NPOP. "I want to know how the
ministries are trying to implement it,”
says Ruparelia, adding that he believes
the RTI Act is indeed the ‘sunshine
Act’ that can save democracy. h
Armed with the Right to Information (RTI ) Act, septuagenarian
Mansukhlal Ruparelia is battling for his fellow silvers.
Dhanya Nair Sankar meets the resolute campaigner At the age of 77, Mansukhlal
V Ruparelia
believes retirement
doesn’t mean leading a
quiet life. After spending
42 years in the Indian Railway
Personnel Service (IRPS)—one of the
central services of the IAS—Ruparelia
is working diligently to make Mira
Road (an unglamorous part of Mumbai)
a haven for residents. Fighting to
get the roads repaired; making sure
only licensed auto rickshaws ply; or
asserting silvers’ rights for a separate
queue in post offices, municipal hospitals
and Western Railway; he has
done it all. With a sound knowledge
of the RTI Act, Ruparelia also keeps
a hawk’s eye on policies for the elderly—
he believes the National Policy
for Older People (NPOP) should be
implemented forthwith.
Ruparelia is a man with a calling.
After retiring as a deputy chief personnel
officer in 1992, he joined a
private company as advisor, but a
voice inside kept telling him to do
something ‘more meaningful’. “I have
seen seniors getting a raw deal in civic
hospitals and railways,” he observes.
“I knew I had to do something for
them. That wish became a conviction
after retirement.” In 2005, when the
RTI Act was passed, he got hold of a
copy and studied it thoroughly. “First I
filed an application to get the municipal
garden in Mira Road cleaned up,”
he recalls. “I got the desired response
within three months, which encouraged
me to file more RTIs.” Since then,
he has filed over 300 applications and
shows no sign of stopping.
If residents of Mira Road are finding
more buses and licensed rickshaws
on the road, it is owing to Ruparelia’s
relentless efforts. “There were not
enough long-distance buses from
Mira Road, while the frequency of
existing ones was bad,” he explains.
“I filed an RTI enquiry at the Thane
RTO where they had no clue about
it. Later, I met officials at Thane and
Mumbai RTO, the police and even
traffic police officials. For the past
four years I have been filing RTI applications
against these authorities.
Though the frequency of buses has
improved, there are some more unanswered
questions.” Seeing how silvers
have to bear the burden of waiting in
long queues at post offices, Ruparelia
filed another enquiry and made sure a
separate queue was set up for them.
Irked by rickshaw drivers charging exorbitant
fares in Mira Road, Ruparelia
has filed RTIs against their unions as
well. “Rickshaws charge more than
` 50 for less than 1 km,” he says.
“I have taken up the matter with their
unions, the state transport authority
and even the governor. But now a lot
more people are coming together to
complain. Only a collective force can
wake up sleeping authorities and RTI
Act is a powerful tool.”
The septuagenarian has also studied
welfare policies for silvers under the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
and has come across a rule that
all civic hospitals have to give free
treatment to those above 60 and
municipal schools have to give one
room to local citizens’ associations on
Sundays and holidays; silvers can use
this facility for their activities. When
taken up with the State Information
Commission (SIC), the case has
shown results. He also helps silvers get
their pension and settlement through
RTI Act. A case in point is his friend
Anthony Cardoze who was not getting
his settlement dues of more than
` 400,000. “I was struggling for over
three years,” reveals Cardoze. “He
filed an application on my behalf and
my dues were settled within 10 days.”
The work, though immensely satisfying,
is challenging as well. “Ministers
and directors withhold information
on the pretext of technical objections
like ‘the original letter addressed to
minister was not received’, ‘fee not
enclosed by nominated post offices
with application’, etc," says Ruparelia.
“Tackling them requires patience and
thorough knowledge of the Act.”
Family support has been the bedrock
of Ruparelia’s active silver life; his sons
encourage him, though his wife worries
sometimes. Next on his agenda is
the NPOP. "I want to know how the
ministries are trying to implement it,”
says Ruparelia, adding that he believes
the RTI Act is indeed the ‘sunshine
Act’ that can save democracy. h
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