The 3rd of February 2018 marked one year of the implementation of the RTI Act. Recognising the achievements of the past year TISL held a press conference on the 2nd of February 2018 at the Sri Lanka Foundation at 3.00p.m. The panellists for the conference were Sankhitha Gunaratne, Tushani Kandilpana, Nishantha Preethiraja, Vinodini Balasubramanium, Sellan Karthik and Samantha Dissanayake.
There has been an encouraging use of RTI to hold governments accountable and to solve personal issues which has increased transparency in public processes one RTI at a time. The success stories are numerous, from exposing the construction of a substandard school building in Omanthi to securing the land rights of a farmer in Gampaha and securing land permits for 1200 families RTI has proved invaluable to the citizen in solving his everyday issues.
TISL along with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the RTI amongst the public through street dramas, an RTI movie, RTI hubs and the RTI van amongst other things. TISL has continued to facilitate public interest RTIs and will continue to facilitate RTIs through their hubs.
Though there remain challenges to be overcome the enthusiasm shown by the citizens in using the Act to solve everyday issues and hold the government accountable has been remarkable.