"Disappointed With PM"s Office," Says Whistleblower and Magsaysay Winner Sanjiv Chaturvedi

New Delhi:  Whistleblower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who has been named for the Ramon Magsaysay Award, has sharply criticised the Prime Minister’s Office and said: “It is only because of an independent judiciary that I was able to survive.”

Mr Chaturvedi was last year removed as vigilance chief of AIIMS hospital, run by the central government, allegedly after he exposed corruption involving officials and politicians. He is currently the deputy secretary at AIIMS.

“I am very disappointed with the functioning of the PMO. I worked with the policy of zero tolerance as espoused by the PM, took this message to heart and took considerable personal risks to break corruption in AIIMS,” he said.

Along with Mr Chaturvedi, the founder of NGO Goonj, Anshu Gupta, has also been named for the award.

Speaking to NDTV, Mr Chaturvedi, said, “The only hope has been an independent judiciary ,it’s only because of an independent judiciary I was able to survive,” he said.

“Our laws is with honest officers, but the reality is just the opposite, in other parts of the country also honest officers are being harassed, transferred,” Mr Chaturvedi said.

After he was removed from AIIMS, Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party government said it would appoint him as its vigilance officer and alleged that he had been victimised.