Whistleblower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who has been selected for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award, on Wednesday expressed disappoinment over functioning of the PMO and said he was able to “survive” only because of an “independent judiciary.”
“There should be a zero tolerance against corruption not against honest officers. I am disappointed with the functioning of PMO as I worked with policy of zero tolerance as espoused by the Prime Minister. I took this message to heart and took considerable personal risks to break corruption in AIIMS,” he said.
He was reacting to his selection for the Ramon Magsaysay award. Mr. Chaturvedi and founder of NGO Goonj Anshu Gupta are the two Indians selected for the coveted award for this year.
Mr. Chaturvedi said he had taken action in a number of cases of alleged corruption involving senior officials and “powerful” people taking inspiration from the Prime Minister’s slogans like ‘ na khaunga, na khane dunga ’ (neither will I take bribe, nor will I allow anyone to take bribe) but was unsuccessful.
Mr. Chaturvedi was removed in August last year from the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner at AIIMS. He had alleged that he was removed because he had detected irregularities at the institute. Currently he is serving as Deputy Secretary in AIIMS.
“Our late President Abdul Kalam has been a role model for me. His positive attitude and selfless manner in which he served the country will always inspire me. He had said that to fight corruption, seminal role has to be played by mother, father and teacher of the children so that right moral values could be inculcated right from the very beginning,” said Mr. Chaturvedi.
