Patna, May 10: Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written a letter to chief minister Nitish Kumar expressing concern over the murder of RTI activists in the state. The letter makes a special mention of Ram Kumar Thakur’s murder at his native village in Muzaffarpur on March 23.

Ramesh wrote that Thakur, an RTI activist, had been raising issues related to irregularities in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Indira Awas Yojana. He also expressed concern at the police’s failure to take action against the culprits so far. “Incidents in which whistleblowers on MGNREGA or rural development irregularities or their family members are either killed or injured should be dealt seriously,” the Union minister wrote in his letter.

Ramesh also suggested Nitish to set up a social audit directorate for MGNREGA, a special audit of MGNREGA and other rural development work where whistleblowers are grievously injured or injured. “Please ensure that a special audit is held for Ratnaulit village,” Ramesh wrote. The minister also suggested that the compensation be given to the victim’s family and initiation for recovery of embezzled money should be made apart from criminal proceedings against the accused.

The Union minister wrote the letter after a delegation of civil society members, including Nikhil Dey and Ashish Ranjan, both members of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) met him at Delhi. NCPRI has been raising the issue of protection of whistleblowers and pressing for a law to protect them. A bill on this issue is pending in Parliament.

The NCPRI has expressed concern over the murder and harassment of RTI activists in the state and cites the examples of not only Ram Kumar Thakur but also of Ram Vilas Singh in Lakhisaria last year. It stressed that both these RTI activists had written to their respective district administrations apprehending threat to their lives, but the administration failed to take action.