The Gujarat government has launched a portal that would allow applicants to seek information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) Act online. Details regarding the applications made for seeking the information would also be available on the portal.
The union government and many states have been offering online RTI services for many years, but the Gujarat government had shied away from providing the service and had faced criticism in the past.
The portal – onlinerti.gujarat.gov.in – was launched by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. The portal will strengthen the implementation of the RTI Act, and empower citizens. The portal has been developed in close cooperation with the Administrative Reforms & Training Division of the General Administration Department and Gujarat Informatics Limited, which works under the Science & Technology Department.
The public information officers and appeal officers of all departments of the Sachivalaya have been trained in the use of the portal.
An official statement said the majority of the information will be available on the RTI portal, and it will usher in transparency in the state government’s administration. The portal will initially be available only for departments within the Sachivalaya and will be subsequently scaled up to heads of department and district offices.
GAD secretary AK Rakesh, ARTD secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi, Science & Technology secretary Vijay Nehra, and joint secretary K Rajesh, were also present at the launch of the portal.