I welcome all of you on behalf of the Orissa Shramik Parishad. I remember one thing; 2-3 months back, when I came to Cuttack and met Chitta Babu ( Chitta Behera), he told, "I have left every thing, and only concentrate on a single topic now, for which I need your help." I know, whatever he thinks, unless it is finished, he would never sit idle. He told me further how the common people shall be enabled to get their desired information as a matter of right, after the Act is made.

A few days back, again during my visit to Cuttack, I met him, and he told me smilingly that he wrote a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Babu, who in his reply assured to take necessary action on right to information immediately. But I am sure, even if they write like this, nothing is going to happen.

However at this preliminary stage, at least some important discussions could be made on the issues around right to information. In to-day's discussion Justice Mishra felt that this Act is not going to help the people in any way. According to him, many Acts were passed earlier, but the people neither knew about them nor could take advantage of them.

Today so many speakers supported the proposed law on right to information to be made. I would like to tell you one thing in this connection. Some days back, I went to Koraput in connection with a job. I saw that suddenly a huge tree fell down on a bus. 3 passengers were severely injured. Another one was critically injured and lying under the fallen tree. For him to survive, it was necessary that the fallen tree was to be removed. We immediately sent the message to the nearby police station. The policemen also arrived there. But we were unable to cut the tree. The woodcutters came but there was no permission to cut the tree. The police suggested calling the forest department people to get the permission. The man pressed under the tree was writhing in mortal pain. The Forest Department officials came but refused to give permission for cutting the tree. In stead they suggested the Police to approach the higher authorities of the Forest Department to get the necessary permission. The tree thus could not be cut and the man ultimately died. This is the state of affairs prevailing in our country.

In spite of all this I still want to say that right to information is indispensable. Very recently it has been placed in the Legislative Assembly of Assam.

I assure you on behalf of our Shramik Parishad to seriously work for making the right to information into a law. I had already discussed with a few MLAs in this matter. If we can organize a Workshop for 10/15 interested MLAs on this topic, they may raise necessary questions in the next session of Legislative Assembly. I assure you further that I shall definitely work towards arranging such a Workshop for MLAs in near future.

Although here we are few people discussing the right to information, we need not be disheartened. The enactment of right to information is inevitable and a matter of time only. What will happen after the passing of the Bill is a different matter altogether. But we should demand the passing of the Bill at first. We should launch a movement at every level, Panchayat, Block, District and State throughout Orissa to realize this demand. I sincerely hope that all of you shall join this movement actively. Jaihind.