Weeding out corruption with a will

An Inspector General of Police, a mother and a painter. Ms.Jija Madhavan Hari Singh wears several caps. As the Chief Vigilance Officer and Advisor (Security) Airports Authority of India, she heads the ``hawk eye'' Department of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), created to unravel the seamy underside of the otherwise glamorous aviation sector. Though she works from New Delhi, Ms.Jija Singh was on a lightning trip to Chennai to conduct a Vigilance Awareness Workshop for the staff of the AAI.

Here, in a conversation with T. S. Shankar, the 49-year-old IPS officer Ms. Singh, recapitulates the steps initiated by the AAI to combat graft and her philosophy of ``hating the sin but not the sinner.''

``There are two aspects to my herculean task. The CEO of any concern or organisation has to maintain the culture of honesty in that organisation. That then is what we are engaged in,'' says the firebrand police officer, one of the seniormost women in uniform.

``I must say it is an unpleasant job - because we are looking at the seamy side of the airport activity. I have so much information in my personal memory as well as in my official records about airport staff.'' Her team has so far unearthed about 40 to 50 corruption cases throughout the country. A board has been put up at the airports, for something Ms.Jija Singh calls `whistle blowing activity'. The board, which lists the contact numbers of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Chief Vigilance Officer, has helped the Vigilance Department immensely. The official website (www.mit.gov.in/aaicvo) also receives a lot of complaints on corruption-related activities and the authenticity of this information is verified with the help of the local officer.

So far, Ms.Jija Singh, who does not conceal her adulation for Magsaysay award winner, Dr.Kiran Bedi and her team, have identified some `sensitive' and `grey' areas at the airports. While the `sensitive' areas are the activities at the terminal building, the grey areas - commercial and marketing section, and the cargo complex.

In fact, the CVC has written to the top brass of the agencies functioning inside the airport to study the corruption taking place inside. To discuss these issues, a national meeting has been scheduled for January 15.

To begin with, AAI will install CCTVs in the airports, covering the entire area. The plan is also to involve all the operational agencies, functioning inside the airports, financially. They will be required to chip in to meet the total expenditure for putting up the CCTVs at the cost of Rs.6 crores. Moving over to the pleasant side of her task, she says ``All these vigilance awareness and preventive activity initiatives launched have brought about a sea change in the mindset of the officers. At least among the top level officers whom we have been able to cover so far.'' Around 2,000 employees have been covered till now.

Hailing from Kerala and married to an IAS officer, who is, at present, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology, and mother of two girls, Ms.Jija Singh is a master of all the trades she is interested in. But painting and reading are special.

Taking up painting with a passion, she has even donated money from the sales proceeds of her paintings to the Kargil war widows fund.

But nothing seems to keep her from her pet peeve for long: corruption. ``The bacteria of corruption will attack the weak. We will have to fight it out before the menace gets too rampant.''

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