Change begins with Me...Yes, I can make a Difference.......!(Must Read)

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Change begins with Me....Yes, I can make a Difference.. .....!

I recently came across the following mail which was forwarded to me by one of my friend, which I am sharing with all of you and hope it will encourage you as well.

Dear Friends,When I narrated the incident below to a close friend over lunch earlierthis week, he suggested that I should pen this down in an email andcirculate it to as many friends in Bangalore as possible. So here goes aninteresting experience of interacting with an IPS officer, who made me see aGlimmer of Hope, amidst the corruption that encompasses, so many of ourpublic services (it is about 7 - 9 mins reading time...).It was Friday 5th June, at about 3 pm I drove my Ford Ikon car into 80 feetroad at Indira Nagar in Bangalore, wanting to reach on time for my 3.30 pmmeeting with a client. As I entered the wide road I saw a posse of TrafficConstables who stopped my car on the side and asked me to produce my cardocuments to the Traffic Sub Inspector(SI) who was standing on the footpath.I walked upto the SIand displayed my Driving Licence, to which he told me to bring my CarInsurance certificate and also my Emission Certificate for the car. I walkedback to my car and realised that I had not carried either of the documentsin my car and was cursing myself for such a slip. I came back to the SI andtold him that I did not have my document and what was to be done.The SI had a half smile & told me that the fine for not carrying both thesedocuments was Rs 600/- however I could pay him Rs 300/-. I removed my walletand told the SI that I would pay the amount and want a receipt for the same,to which he suddenly grew stern and told me that in which case the fine

wasRs 1,100/-.. I paid the fine of Rs 1,100/- and took the receipt, wonderingwhy the fine had suddenly escalated just because I wanted a receipt insteadof paying the Rs 300 bribe which the SI had asked.After my client meeting as I was driving back, I was annoyed at myself fornot carrying the documents and I was angry that at an officer at an SI levelwas blatantly seeking a bribe. I decided that I should do something about itand as soon as I reached my Home Office, I logged on to the net and foundout that the Traffic Police of Bangalore has a website, which gives detailsof the fines chargeable , it also provides for logging complaints and gavethe email ids of the Asst Commissioner of Police for the traffic division.At about 7 pm that evening I wrote an email to the email id of the ACP,narrating the incident of the afternoon and lodging a formal complaint inthe email. I also found out the website of Lok Ayukta of Karnataka andmarked a cc of the same email to the email id's given on the Lok Ayukta'swebsite. By about 7.30pm I had done theneedful, and I was happy with myself that what I preach in myLeadership Workshops wrt Values, I had practised to a large extent (Payingthe fine instead of paying the bribe and reporting

the bribe demand to thebest of my ability).I thought the chapter ended there, little realising that I would be havingan indeed amazing and pleasant experience on this whole incident in thehours & days to come.On Saturday 7th June(the next day) at about 2 pm, I logged into my HomeOffice and checked my email and lo behold, I had 3 emails sent to me by theACP to who I had written the complaint email the previous day. The firstone, informed me that I had done the right thing by paying the fine and notthe

bribe, the second email asked to give my complaint in writing and fax itto the ACP, so that action can be taken on the SI and the 3rd email asked meto give the ACP a call on his office no or his cell no, so that he couldaccelerate the action to be taken on the erring SI. I promptly put mycomplaint in a letter and sent a scanned copy through the email to the ACP.On Sunday, 8th June in the morning I checked my email and I had an emailfrom the ACP stating that the erring SI had been suspended from services andthat I must give the ACP a call to work out the next formalities. I calledthe ACP (till now I did not know the name of this ACP) who answered my callon the Sunday. During my phone conversation he introduced himself as ACPPravin Sood,and thanked me for doing what I did wrt not paying the bribe and alsoescalating the matter in writing, he explained that many Bangalore citizensescalate such cases to him but then back down when asked to give thecomplaint in

writing.He apologised to me (yes - he said "I am sorry for what you faced with thisSI who harassed you, because he did not have any business stopping your tocheck your documents if you had not done any traffic violation") and heinvited me over to Tea to his office at a time convenient to me. After Ikept the phone down, I could not believe that here was a case where within48 hours of an incident of seeking bribe, the erring office was suspended.I decided that I must meet in person ACP Pravin Sood, speaking with who for10 minutes had changed a few paradigms in my mind about Public ServicesOfficers.Since I was travelling the next few days, I sought time with him on 15thJune at 4.30 pm at his office. I reached ACP Sood's office a little early(at 4.10 pm) and was pleasantly surprised when I was ushered into his officeat 4.15 pm, he asked me to sit as he was completing a meeting with anotherdelegation. At sharp 4.30 pm he ended his previous meeting and turned to meand spent the next 20 minutes discussing with me several aspects of TrafficPolicing in Bangalore and offered me a cup of tea (Many corporate clients Ivisit, do not see me on time and do not ask me for a cup of tea, so what ACPSood was doing was indeed betterthan many corporate folks I have met!)..Right through the conversation, he was courteous, frank andcompletely articulate on his thoughts and ideas. He reiterated that therewould be no repercussions on me for giving the complaint in writing, andthat I may have to make one appearance in person when the internal

enquiryis done, he also offered that instead of me having to come to the Policeheadquarters to give the statement, he could send one of his officers to myresidence to take mystatement if I so wish.When I was leaving ACP Sood's office, I told him "Over the years many of myfriends and cousins have urged me to migrate and settle in one of thewestern countries, but I have consciously chosen to stay back in India by mychoice - when I have interactions like the one I had with you ACP Sood, I amhappy that I made the

choice to stay back in India". It was an impromptucomment, straight from my heart to which ACP Sood just smiled and shook myhand.When I was walking out of ACP Sood's office, I felt reassured that if wehave officers like ACP Pravin Sood in our country, there is a Glimmer ofHope, against corruption, provided, we as citizens

have the courage to sayNO to Bribes and have the inclination to report cases of Bribe (I am nomajor RTI or Social activist, yet I found all the info I needed on the web,sitting in my Home Office).Change begins with me, I can make a difference.. !

 

Hope the above story has touched you the same way as it touched me... Now let me ask all of you that how many times we all have gone through the similar problems due to the corruption, which is prevailing everywhere and is rising very sharply.. but also we are the one who are indirectly helping it to grow in our system…the abovementioned story is a real one and it shows that it takes only little courage of yours to deal with the problem but most of us surrender to it and which helps the corruption to grow.

Although we are celebrating 62nd year of our independence but let me ask you - where a citizen of a country is afraid of its own police & officers (who are suppose to protect their interest) will you call it a freedom? No it can never be.. Can we do something about it?? YES Today on this Independence eve I would like to encourage you all to come together to fight against the corruption in our system. I request all the readers having the similar thoughts and who wants to do a little about it, to give their feedback and valuable suggestions so that we can make our Country a better place to live.

Sai Bless You.. CA.Ashvani Mathur http://ashvanimathu r-spiritualworld .blogspot. com/

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