Cinematographer Adeep Tandon is a “man of principles” who “will not succumb to any pressure”. He certainly proved it a couple of nights ago, when he was detained at the octeroi tax plaza in Vashi after refusing to pay a 100 rupee ($2) bribe. (Octeroi is a local tax collected on goods brought into a district).
He was returning to Mumbai after shooting in Pune. With him was his 2 lakh ($5,000) video camera. He had all the necessary paperwork in order, completed when he left Mumbai and declaring that he already owned the video camera. Despite this, an octeroi officer demanded that he pay 100 rupees for the camera, and wouldn’t allow him to pass.
Having strong views about the need to wipe out corruption, he admirably refused. Four hours later he was still detained at the tax plaza. He was only able to leave after other people began speaking up for him and berating the octeroi staff.
The incident earned Mr Tandon a personal apology from a Brihanmumbai Municipal Council official. Apparently, the staff member has also been transferred away, and is having disciplinary action taken against her.
I must admit, I was a little surprised to find out that the corrupt staff member was a woman. And a 66 year old woman at that.
Mr Tandon, as a man with a somewhat high profile job, surely is a man of relative status in India. This should place him in an upper position in the hierarchy. Considering that he had done nothing wrong, taking an authoritative stance should have been enough to put an end to the matter. In the end, it was. But only when a number of other people intervened and backed him up.
I wonder what was going on in the mind of this woman octeroi officer to make her think that Mr Tandon was a good prospect for a bribe?
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
Hats off to Adeep Tandon.
Yeah India needs more citizens like this man.
Infact, the world needs more and more such brave people who stand up for what they believe in.
For example, consider this brave security guard who totally exposed US EMBASSY IN KABUL yesterday…………..
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8474937
The title of this post should have been:
” World needs more upstanding citizens like this man “
IMDB tells me that Tandon-ji was the cinematographer on Saaransh.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088031/
Hats off to Adeep Tandon. Way to go dude! Hope you are reading this and swelling with pride. I’m kinda shocked too that it was a woman… But then this is India!
Is there any reason to believe that women can be less corrupt than men? I think not. I have never really understood this idea of transfer as punishment either. If the person is corrupt in one place, what could possibly be the reason to think she will be less corrupt anywhere else she goes?
I am glad he did not pay and stood up to the officer. I know of others who have done the same thing. It is not an easy thing to do particularly if the time lost (4 h. in this case) is more valuable to you than the money you are asked to pay for immediate passage.
We need more of the tribe of Adeep Tandon and the media can do well to highlight such people. As for the octroi guys, they deserved to be sacked and all their retirement benefits be taken away.
We also need to begin in small way ourself by refusing to pay speed money to save our time.
Absolutely… the more resolute we become relative to these non-trivial matters, the better off our life and society will be.
Hats off to the resistance and the determination shown by the man to shake off the roots of the Octroi Officer.
My (limited) experience is that if you are willing to ‘suffer’ in the path of righteousness you can combat corruption in India. In one instance, I needed to move some specialized computer equipment from the US HQ to its Indian subsidiary. The shipment got held up. It became clear soon that the delays could be avoided by greasing a few palms. I asked some (Indian) friends for advice and one told me that if I was willing to stick it out the system would work for me.
I did (including writing a very diplomatically worded letter threatening to escalate matters to higher levels of the bureaucracy) and eventually all the official objections miraculously disappeared and the shipment was cleared.
Well I guess veneer of sophistication can help you beat corruption in India.
I was a target of such a shake down at the Mumbai airport on my first trip to India. The officials were shouting at my husband and behaving in a hostile manner. Finally a higher official (a woman no less) reprimanded them and asked them why they were treating a foreign woman with a toddler and a baby so horribly. They eventually let us go without any new and inventive taxes. India is such a beautiful country with so much potential. I hope that these steps will be successful in changing the widespread corruption.
Hi there!
I’m the secret one from Algeria (do you remember?). (I put a link of your blog in mine and I don’t want my followers to find me here that’s why I’m so secret about my name loll).
You suggered to me to write a secret blog and Ronny asked me to write it in english cos’ he wants to know about Algeria.
It’s done! There’s not a lot of post for the moment, but little by little.
About your post: it’s true, everyone in the world must be like this man. Here in Algeria, that kind of things happens so often that people are discouraged and let do…
Yaaay Gina! I’m really looking forward to reading all about the rollercoaster. I’ve put a link to your blog on my blog, and will be checking back often for updates!!
Hopefully Gina-ji puts some pics as well.
Hello Gina
Thanks.
You got a reader now in me.
Cheers
Its deeply saddening to see the land “of the people, by the people and for the people” is getting on this ugly path of corruption. Unfortunately this erosion is something thats being taken for granted.
Those who can see beyond their own wealth, politics and position to act against, can save it, like this man.
guess that lady desperately needs money that time…
One can not eat morals to satisfy her hunger. The Octeroi officer may not be some one who earns high wages. The cycle of corruption is orchestrated by bigger fishes, who seldom get caught. I don’t put much weight in scapegoating an ordinary officer who earns 150 $/month and praising someone who owns 5000 $ camera when every one of us is part of this corruption, directly or indirectly!
If it were me, I’d have simply paid up the Rs. 100. For all I know, this 66 year old woman needs money for her BP treatment, which her pittance of a government salary (and allowances) can barely afford. As Amit said, we are all corrupt in various ways and taking a morally self-righteous stance against someone in the lower pecking order of this corruption doesn’t make anything better.