Telangana govt awards civil servants for exemplary performance

CM K Chandrasekhara Rao felicitated the officers during I-Day celebrations on Tuesday

The Telangana government has set a new precedent of honouring All India Services officers on the occasion of the country's 71st Independence Day in recognition of their contribution to a particular cause within or outside their administrative responsibilities.

At present, no state has a practice of honouring civil servants, most of whom spend their lives in a particular state, where they are posted until the completion of their training period. Only a handful of such officers find their way into Central government services.

Allotments are often viewed as an indirect recognition of the officer's performance on an individual basis. However, there is no recognition given to the work and achievements of a particular officer in his/her current posting.

Breaking convention in this regard, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has decided to honour civil servants for exemplary performance in the current posting in line departments or district administration.

About 16 civil servants, including one IFS and 2 IPS officers were given the Telangana Excellence Awards (TEX Awards) by the chief minister during the Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday.

Of these, four officers were specifically chosen for the awards in recognition of their services as heads of departments at the state level.

The remaining 12 are all the young Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers. They were chosen for the award under three divisions-innovation, general and flagship schemes- with each divided into three sub categories of individual, group and organisation.

As part of the practice, IPS officers CV Anand and R S Praveen Kumar were rewarded for their performance in their current capacities.

Known for bringing the menace of drunken driving to a complete halt in Hyderabad, Anand was selected for the award for increasing the efficiency in implementing the public distribution system (PDS) in the state.

Kumar, was likewise, rewarded for his contribution to operations related to the running of social welfare residential schools, besides assisting several students as a mentor in the region. Kumar's name had recently surfaced in the media for mentoring a 14-year old tribal girl from Telangana in her quest to climb the Mount Everest.

Senior IAS officer Vakati Karuna, who heads the state's Vaidya Vidhana Parishad was selected for successfully rolling out the 'KCR Kits' scheme that is aimed at providing an assortment of useful items to new born babies and their mothers. Karuna also played an instrumental role in running the state's government hospitals in an efficient manner.

Meanwhile, IFS officer M D Shafiullah was felicitated for successfully running the minority residential schools.

Among the remaining 12 awardees, 11 are serving as collector and district magistrates of the newly reorganized districts whose number has now gone up to 31, from just 10 in October last year. Interestingly, Janagao's collector and district magistrate A Sri Devasena was given the TEX Award for conducting training sessions as well as mass demonstrations on martial arts and self-defence for girls in government-run schools.

The awards were given based on the recommendations of a selection committee headed by the special chief secretary of planning, B P Acharya.

The state government awarded medals, cash awards and other incentives to officers in the police department, people of eminence in the cultural sphere and government personnel on Tuesday.