Information officers deprived of access to information

Information officers designated at local governments and other government offices here are being deprived of information themselves.

At a meeting of information officers held at the District Administration Office of Chitwan on Wednesday, the designated officers shared that they were out of reach of the information.

Bharatpur Metropolitan City’s Information Officer Menuka Pandit complained that the media persons could not be provided with information immediately on demand due to lack of timely dissemination of information from the higher level.

Madi Municipality’s Information Officer Praveen Bhandari lamented that it was difficult for the information officers to access information in the bodies having the people’s representatives.

Likewise, Information Officer of Kalika municipality Prakash Chandra Poudel said the information officer knew the information only after it was made public through the media and social media.

Information Officer at the Public Health Office, Indramani Bhandari said it was very difficult to discharge the role of information officer along with other responsibilities of the office.

Chief District Officer Indra Dev Yadav suggested the information officers to obtain information from the concerned officials according to the nature of the work of their office and regularly manage the complaint box, while the participating journalists complained it was difficult to get information from the government agencies.