HYDERABAD: Former Chief Secretary (CS) of integrated Andhra Pradesh SV Prasad passed away due to COVID-19 on Tuesday. He was under treatment at a corporate hospital in Hyderabad for the last few days.
As bad luck would have it, Prasad contracted the infection thrice, despite being double vaccinated against the coronavirus. His wife and children are also reported to be suffering from the infection and are under treatment at the same hospital for the last few weeks.
SV Prasad was 69.
Unassuming and soft-spoken, Prasad was one officer who was liked and depended upon by the chief ministers he worked for. He worked as Principal Secretary for over 10 years for three chief ministers - N Janardhan Reddy, K Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and N Chandrababu Naidu. And when they had to take any crucial decision, they used to invariably consult him.
In 2010, he went on to become the CS of the state, superseding 20 IAS officers senior to him, after K Rosaiah took over as the Chief Minister in 2009, following the untimely death of incumbent YS Rajasekhar Reddy in a helicopter crash. He retired in September 2011.
A 1975-batch IAS officer, Prasad did his MBA from the IIM-Ahmedabad, and began his career in the government service as sub-collector, Gudur in Nellore district. He then handled several responsible positions with aplomb and elan. He was Collector of Ananthayur in 1982 and Visakhapatnam in 1985.
After retirement from service, he worked as Vigilance Commissioner for the combined state of AP and also for the reorganised state of Andhra Pradesh after 2014.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao and former chief minister of AP N Chandrababu Naidu mourned his demise.