Madurai Collector, U. Sagayam

Inspiration: A collector who does not take bribe

By refusing to take bribes, the Madurai collector has
earned 18 transfers in 20 years, a modest house and bank
balance and lots of respect

On a hot summer afternoon, on Madurai's busy main road,
the district collector, U. Sagayam, saw a young man
talking on a cellphone while riding a motorbike.
He asked his driver to wave the man down, got down
from his car and meted out instant punishment:
plant 10 saplings within 24 hours. Somewhat unconventional
justice, some might say. But that's how Sagayam works.

'Lanjam Thavirtthu, Nenjam Namartthu' (Reject bribes,
hold your head high), says a board hanging above
Sagayam's chair in his modest office.
That's the code he lives by, even if politicians
are incensed they cannot bend him their way-he's been
transferred 18 times in the last 20 years-and has made
enemies of both superiors and subordinates. "I know I
sit under a dangerous slogan and probably alienate
people," he says. "But I have been the same Sagayam
s forever."

Two years ago, as district collector of Namakkal,
he voluntarily declared his assets: a bank balance of
Rs 7,172 and a house in Madurai worth Rs 9 lakh.
Once, when his baby daughter, Yalini, who had breathing
problems, was suddenly taken ill, he did not have
the Rs 5,000 needed for admitting her to a private hospital.
At that time he was deputy commissioner (excise) in
Coimbatore and there were 650 liquor licences
to be given out. The going bribe for each was rumoured
to be Rs 10,000.

Sagayam started cleaning up Madurai the minute he
landed here. The main bus terminus at Mattuthavani
looked more like a bazaar, with shops all over the
bus-shelters and no waiting place for passengers.
Even a police outpost had been turned into a shop.
The system was well-oiled with haftas to local
politicians and policemen. Sagayam quickly went through
the rulebook, cited the relevant clauses and cleaned
up the entire area.
But didn't it hit poor shopkeepers who lost their
livelihood? "A violation is a violation," says Sagayam,
"but we will help them rehabilitate." Nageshwaran, a
taxi-driver and one of Sagayam's many fans, says,
"He's strict and hasn't taken even ten paise in
bribe during his career. He's like the upright
collectors they show in some films, a real hero with integrity."

Sagayam's masters degrees in social work and law
come in useful in his role as an administrator.
He knows the rulebooks in detail and is not
afraid of using them, however powerful the opponent.
No wonder then that Sagayam's career is marked with
the scars of countless battles.

When he was in Kanchipuram as revenue officer,
he took on the sand mafia, ordering them to stop
dredging sand from the Palar riverbed.
Large-scale dredging had made the area flood-prone.
The mafia sent goons to assault Sagayam, but he did
not budge and would not take back the
order. He also took on a mighty soft-drink mnc when
a consumer showed him a bottle with dirt floating in it.
He sealed the bottling unit and banned the sale of the soft
drink in the city. In Chennai, he locked horns with a
restaurant chain and recovered four acres valued at some Rs 200 crore.

Given such credentials, it wasn't surprising for
him to be picked by the Election Commission to oversee
elections in Madurai, as famous for its temples as its
political gods. During the last polls, Sagayam took on
M.K. Azhagiri, the local MP and son of former CM and
DMK supremo M.Karunanidhi. He conducted voter awareness
campaigns in colleges; the DMK petitioned the court twice,
seeking to end what it said was an attempt
to influence voters, but the court demurred.

Sagayam's wife Vimala has stood by him all these years
but she was rattled by some of the threats during the
elections. "He always says if you are right, nobody
can hurt you," she says. "But sometimes it becomes
difficult."

Sagayam takes a hands-on approach to his work. He
holds a Monday 'durbar',at which anyone can meet him
with their complaints. During tours of the
district for review meetings and inspections,
he will suddenly stop a school bus to talk to children
or duck into a school to take a class.
When students tell him they want to be IAS or IPS
officers, he asks, "It's all well to say now that
you'll be honest, but will you remain unbending
about not taking bribes throughout your career?"

Some months back, while driving to a village, he
found a 92-year-old woman cleaning rice. She said
she had to work in order to eat. He immediately
sanctioned Rs 1,000 as old-age pension for her.
When 60-year-old Vellamma met him during a tour
of Uthappanaikkanoor village this week and asked
him to grant her a pension, he said, "I can do that.
But do you want me to send your son to jail too-for
abandoning you?" He said it with a smile, as a joke,
but he has in fact taken action against
children who don't take care of their aging parents.

"I believe, as Mahatma Gandhi said, that India lives
in her villages,"says Sagayam, who also idolises Subhash
Chandra Bose. His years as a collector-he has slept
overnight in village schools many times-have
convinced him to better the lot of villagers by
strengthening the village administrative officer
(VAO) system. Many VAOs have never visited villages and
often stay miles away from where they should be, in
cities. In Namakkal, his action against errant VAOs
had them ganging up with politicians to get him transferred.
Over 5,000 villagers protested, saying they wouldn't
let Sagayam go. The politicians had to retreat.

Sagayam says he learnt honesty on his mother's knees.
He is the youngest of four sons of a farmer from Pudukottai.
"Our adjoining field had mango trees and my friends and
I would pick the fallen fruit," he says. "But
my mother made me throw the mangoes away, saying
I should enjoy only what is mine." Now his daughter
Yalini wants to become a collector. When she has an argument
with her brother Arun, she asks her father, "Is he
really your son? He just told a lie!" Both of them are
proud of their father. Recently, after a long time,
the Sagayam family went on a vacation to Kullu in Himachal
Pradesh. While visiting a gurudwara, a stranger came up to
their father and asked him, "Aren't you IAS officer
Mr Sagayam?" Yalini and Arun have not stopped beaming.

--
One Man with courage is a Majority. Andrew Jackson

Sent by Arun Shroff.

In this age where Anna Hazare is fighting against corruption in Government, it is refreshing reading the above.