UDUPI : The recent posting of Sindhu B Rupesh as Udupi zilla panchayat CEO has catapulted Udupi district to a unique position. Four top posts, including that of the Deputy Commissioner, Additional DC, ZP CEO and District Health Officer, are held by women. Even peoples’ representatives such as Udupi District In-charge Minister, Member of Parliament and ZP Vice-president are women.
Udupi Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis says that her job comes with enormous responsibility. In April last year, Priyanka was attacked by people from the sand mafia during a raid operation in Kundapur taluk. When asked about the incident, Priyanka said that it had not discouraged her in any way. “I was advised by my seniors to take up such a raid only with full police protection.”
A 2009 batch IAS officer from Thiruvananthapuram, Priyanka said that an everyday challenge is managing personal and professional life. ‘’This is a 24/7 job. In case of any emergency we have to go to the field,” she said. Priyanka is forced to stay away from her husband for the job. She, however, lives with her mother and her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
Sindhu B Rupesh, the new CEO of Udupi ZP earlier served as the deputy secretary in Finance and Budget Department in Bengaluru. Sindhu is a BE graduate from Mysuru and an IAS officer from the 2011 batch. She had secured the highest rank in the civil service exam in the state and stood 17th nationally. Sindhu strives to reach out to people in the rural pockets of the district. Similarly, Udupi’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Vidya Kumari has been scrutinising the progress made in works of various departments.