Patna,(BiharTimes): Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written a letter to the chief minister Nitish Kumar expressing deep concern over the frequent killing of RTI activists in Bihar.

He took a serious note of the recent killings of RTI activists Ram Kumar Thakur of Muzaffarpur and Ram Vilas Singh of Lakhisarai. Incidentally, no arrest has been made so far in the killing of Thakur near his village Ratnauli in Muzaffarpur district on March 23 last.

The letter has suggested special audits in panchayats where people have been killed or attacked for uncovering corruption and irregularities.

"There is need for setting up of social audit directorate for MNREGA, special audit of MNREGA/other rural development works where whistle-blowers are grievously injured or killed, compensation to the family of the victim and recovery of money embezzled in addition to criminal proceedings against the wrongdoers," the minister,” the letter said.

It came in the wake of the demand from National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) to provide adequate protection to whistle-blowers.

NCPRI has been raising the issue of protection to whistle-blowers and pressing for a law to protect them. A bill on this issue is pending in parliament.

Last month NCPRI had conducted a public hearing in New Delhi of whistle-blowers and their family members who are living under threat.

It needs to be recalled that Nikhil Dey (member, programme advisory group, MNREGA and NCPRI convener), Ashish Ranjan (NCPRI core committee member) and Sanjay Sahni (colleague of Ram Kumar Thakur) met Jairam Ramesh on April 20 and advised him on possible measures for countering attacks on whistle-blowers. NCPRI has also demanded that Bihar government take serious note of the matter and provide adequate protection to whistle-blowers.

Sridhar Mishra (Begusarai), Murlidhar Jayaswal (Munger), Ram Vilas Singh (Lakhisarai), Rahul Raj (Muzaffarpur) and Ram Kumar Thakur were among those killed in the recent past.

Incidentally, Ram Vilas Singh and Ram Kumar Thakur had to pay with their lives even though they had written to their respective district administration regarding threats and abuse, but no action was taken.