Jul 16 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)

No bribes please: VAO puts up board in her office
Coimbatore:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

A Pollachibased village administrative officer has taken the fight against corruption to a whole new level. The 30-year-old officer has put up a board in her office clearly stating that she does not accept any bribe. The board also gives her phone number, allowing people requiring her help to contact her directly instead of having to go through her junior officers and having to bribe them to get their job done. Though the board was put up three years back, it has recently taken social media by storm.

R Muthumari, who joined the village administrative service in 2012, was initially posted in Kaliapuram, Anamalai Hills, and later moved to Pollachi more than a year later. Recollecting her first tryst with being offered a bribe, she said a rich man wanted her signature to get patta for a specific piece of land. “The man said he was willing to offer me any amount of money to get me to award the pattas for his land. I still remember the strong irritation I felt at that moment,“ she said. “Being offered a bribe irritates me because we are pulled into something wrong that a man or woman is doing,“ she added.

Muthumari, who grew up hating the culture of corruption that has existed in the Indian government and politics, had decided that she would not collect any bribes ever since she wrote the village administrative officer exams. “But I realised that many personal assistants, office assistants and even ward councilors were collecting bribes in my name, promising to get jobs done,“ said Muthumari who often has to issue income certificates, clear address proofs and even sort out civic and revenue issues. “I used to come home tense and irritated at being of fered bribes regularly and also at the knowledge that people under me continued taking bribes in my name, not allowing me to run my administration without corruption,“ she said. “That was when my husband suggested that I put up a board in my office clearly stating that I do not accept bribes, and that this would spread the word in the town.“

The VAO, who hails from an ordinary agrarian family , said it was her older brother who brought her up, often teaching her about old Tamil leaders and politicians.