What’s in RTI reply in Hindi? This time it puzzled postman

CHENNAI: While there have been instances of activists in the State receiving replies under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in Hindi, a postman bore the brunt on Friday as even the address on the RTI reply envelope was in Hindi.

He zeroed in on the locality based on the pin code and finally tracked the activist with the help of other employees in the post office. Fortunately for them, Chennai-based Dhayanand Krishan filed RTI requests regularly, and was familiar to them.

Dhayanand had sought an RTI reply from the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on the State-wise number of hospital beds ready by March 2021, and other queries. The Union Ministry then forwarded the request to hospitals under the Central government for data.

On Friday, Dhayanand received a reply from Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital in New Delhi. The reply was all in Hindi, including his name and address on the cover. “I couldn’t understand what was written. The postman told me that he also struggled as the name and address were in Hindi. Some people in the post office know me as I file RTIs regularly, and with their help, the postman finally tracked me,” he said, adding that he had sent the queries in English.

“The State government must insist the Centre and Union Ministries to issue replies in English as we are asking the questions in English. An activist in Tenkasi too got an RTI reply in Hindi, a few months ago,” Dhayanand added.