Magsaysay winner to donate award money to PM Fund

Bureaucrat and Magsaysay awardee Sanjiv Chaturvedi will donate his award money of $30,000 to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund after failing to deposit it into the account of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 40-year-old also said that the delay by the health ministry in depositing the amount into AIIMS account was intentional and an attempt to humiliate him.

"In view of the circumstances, I have decided to donate the entire money to the Prime Minister National Relief Fund. I am not interested in any further tussle with the health ministry and AIIMS on this purely humanitarian issue. Already considerable time has been wasted in fruitless and never ending correspondences," he said in his letter.

"I had donated this amount with utmost pure intention but had never expected that personal hatred of powers that be, against me, would prevail even in this case."

Chaturvedi, who was one among two Indians to win 2015 Ramson Magsaysay award, donated the award money to AIIMS for treatment of cancer patients.

However, even after two months, AIIMS and the health ministry had not deposited the amount in the hospital's account.

Chaturvedi, who won the Magsaysay award for exposing corruption, is currently the deputy secretary at the AIIMS.

He was removed from the post of chief vigilance officer of the institute in August 2014 much before the completion of his tenure which was to end in 2016.