Yuvi

Read this touching biography of a living legend who has fought against the system and himself to live a stainless and respectful life.

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 from Day 1. Standing up against
corruption is not for a season. Nor is it a fad. It’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