(Reproduced from the Times Of India pg 12 October 30, 2007)

Sr citizen traps corrupt official

Vijay Singh I TNN

Navi Mumbai: When Madhavan Nair walks in Sanpada, the 70-year-old draws curious glances; and some look at him with awe as they reach out to shake his firm hand.

Nair had recently got a corrupt official of City and Industrial Development Corporation of India Limited (Cidco) trapped, for taking a bribe of Rs 3,000, with the help of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). But, that is not the reason why the senior citizen has become well-known in his locality.

In fact, he has always been the good Samaritan particularly targeting corruption in government offices since 1960, when he first started working in Mumbai as a typist. “When I began working with the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), my salary was Rs 6 per day, which was enough to run my house. So I don’t understand why some officials become greedy for bribes despite having reasonably good salaries,’’ said Nair matter-of-factly.

Though he did get the Cidco official, Deepak Korde, trapped last week for asking for a bribe of Rs 3,000 to change the list of inheritors, he does not want him arrested or sacked. “I think sacking the Cidco official would be too harsh a punishment. I only want him to change for the better and not to ruin his life,’’ said Nair, who did not lodge a formal complaint against Korde with the ACB, and so only a departmental inquiry has been initiated against the official.

“I believe in giving people a second chance in life. Korde had openly told me that he is charging a Rs 3,000 bribe as he had paid a hefty sum to Cidco to get that post. So you can imagine how bad the system is,’’ said Nair.

The Cidco spokesperson, Buddhabhushan Gaikwad, said that the departmental inquiry will be conducted by a senior-level officer, based on the full ACB report against Korde sent to Cidco.

Last year, during his daily walk in Sanpada, Nair noticed an ill man lying on the ground, and immediately informed the local police; but they ignored his concern. “The police told me that the man must be drunk, so I approached higher officials and even the municipality to get that man admitted in a hospital. After six days I received a call that the sick man had passed away in the hospital,’’ he said.

He also recalled an earlier incident in Navi Mumbai, when he questioned a traffic policeman about why he was sitting idly in the chowky, while a woman pedestrian was nearly run over by a speeding car. “The cop verbally abused me for questioning him, but I again took the matter to the higher authorities and they pulled up the lazy policeman. They actually transferred him to Bhiwandi,’’ said Nair.

In 1995, when Nair had first got his Sanpada flat registered in Navi Mumbai, an official demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 to give him his original house certificate. Again, Nair wrote a spate of letters to senior officials in Mantralaya, and the then secretary of revenue and forests was forced to look into the matter. After nearly oneand-a-half years, Nair finally got his original flat documents, but he was pleased that he did not pay the bribe.

“I believe that if you are right, then no bad force in this universe can defeat you. Though it may take some time fo

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r you to win,’’ he said.

 

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