ASHKEEN AHMED/21yrs

It is a surprise to many that Ashkeen, the short sweet guy-next-door, is actually feared by officers of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). It all started when a sweeper of his area asked for ‘bakshish’ on an Id. Ashkeen refused the reward as the area was actually not being cleaned regularly. Since he remained adamant, the sweepers threw the garbage right in front of his house. This made the simple easy-going Ashkeen lose his cool. He filed an RTI application against the sweepers. Soon the matter became too big. Now the MCD officers were also on the line of fire. They tried hard to let the matter go unnoticed. They requested (read begged) Ashkeen to take his application back. Some even tried to monetarily compensate him. But Ashkeen didn’t budge. Ultimately the MCD officers had to pay a fine of Rs25000.

Since then he has used RTI for benefit of people of his locality in various matters, like delays in ration. He also trains many youngsters on RTI. He teaches these students in the premise of a police station in Kalyanpuri, Delhi. Along with this he is pursuing Bachelors in Social Work.