Nuapada: A man had to mortgage his land to arrange Rs 31,000 he was told to pay to get information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act here.

Madhab Majhi, a panchayat ward member of Tarbod in the district, had to mortgage a piece of land to arrange money for payment towards the prescribed fee for information.

However, though he has paid the fees two months ago he has not been provided with the information. He has been threatened with dire consequence if he continued to seek the information.

He alleged that police had not acted against the accused despite his compliants. He warned of sitting on dharna from on March 15 if the culprits were not arrested.

Majhi had asked for information on the MGNREGA works in Dharampur and Gohirapadar village in 2016-17 under the RTI act.

Initially, he had applied for the information at the Tarbod panchayat office. But as they didn't provide him with it, he then moved Komna block office also to know about the tube wells dug in the two villages. The RTI officer-in-charge of the block allegedly asked Majhi to pay Rs 31,000 for the information.

"The officer told me to pay Rs 31,000 for the information. I didn't have so much money. I had to mortgage a piece of land to get the money. I paid the money on January 1," he said.

Majhi said even after paying the money, the information had not been provided.

"I am yet to get the information I had sought. Instead, those who would be exposed by the information are threatening me," he said.

On February 19, Majhi had gone to attend the panchayat meeting, where he was issued a death threat. They had also beaten up his companion Paramananda Majhi.

The duo had filed a complaint with the Komana police station.

Sub-divisional police officer Bidyut Panda said the police would arrest the accused soon.

"Police have been instructed to arrest the accused who are absconding," said Panda.