Salute the Civil Servant

Salutes to you Sir ...

"District collector, U.

Sagayam of Madurai, Tamil

Nadu - 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"

Three years ago, as district

collector of Namakkal, Tamil

Nadu, U. Sagayam 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, Tamil Nadu,

and there were 650 liquor

licences to be given out. The

going bribe for each was

rumoured to be Rs 10,000.

(He needs a special mention

here because the assets of

an IAS officer-couple in

Madhya Pradesh were valued

at Rs 360 crore. They had 25

flats in three cities)

'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

from Day 1. Standing up

against corruption is not for

a season. Nor is it a fad. It’s

forever”, he says.

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.

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.

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.

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 says he learnt

honesty on his mother’s

knees.