Rayagada Collector Asutosh assumes charge and swings into action on day one
Rayagada (Badal Tah): After taking charge as Collector, Rayagada Ashutosh Kulkarni C cancelled the impugned transfer orders of several section officers and senior clerks of the district. He came to know about the kickbacks of several lakhs of rupees involved in the transfer. Moreover, his predecessor instituted these transfers after being transferred to Bhubaneswar. Though he took a review meeting of all the district level officers, BDOs and other officers, he did not stall the district level grievance redressal process in Padmapur block.
He promptly formed a high level committee comprising of CDMO & PHO, DWO & DEO to institute an inquiry regarding the death of a tribal girl reading in Class-III in Kuli Seva Ashram. Though there is a “Health Tracker WhatsApp Group” administered by ADM having members like CDMO, PAs of ITDAs, WEOs & some senior clerks, DWO was consciously kept out of the said group. This was not generally approved by conscious citizens as the tribals schools come under the purview of DWO.
Similarly he also cancelled three agreements of Rs.5.5 crores project with the Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd(MCL) as the same agreements were signed by his predecessor after the transfer order. In the mean time, Rayagada MLA, district level officers, media associations and other organizers welcomed him and briefed about the development works due in the district. With these three bold steps he has rectified the administrative errs affecting the public in general.
Ashutosh, a former student of Muktangan School and a 2015-batch mechanical engineer from Pune Vidyarthi Gruha from Maharashtra, cleared UPSC Civil Services 2019 with an all India rank of 44 in his 4th attempt. Present day IAS aspirants still refer notes prepared by him & his interface in several utubes. Prior to being an IAS, he had also been temporarily working with ministry of electronics, which is a reality check of his CV. Serving as Sub-Collector, Chhatrapur(Brahmapur), CDO-cum-EO, Zilla Parishad, Koraput and ADM & Commissioner of Rourkela Municipal Corporation has boosted his administrative acumen and people-first approach. His leadership is expected to usher in a new phase of growth and good governance in the district.
Though he believed in reading quality news papers during his preparation of IAS, his administrative experience created fervor in him about several social media and vernacular dailies. He must welcome adaptation to change as the situation in a geopolitical unit drastically changes & is unpredictable. It is high time to inculcate more & more people oriented skills and further strengthen his ability to grasp, which is a born quality. According to him, basic intelligence is required about what is happening around oneself, memorize those and act. According to him, ego shedding helps for plan B, if plan A fails. One must strategise to connect known to unknown things, link things properly & shun away from too much independence. Efficient work with intuition must be adhered to where output is guaranteed. All these maxims, which he professed and practised during his different administrative stints, have sharpened his acumen in knowing, listening and solving scores of problems.
“This is his 1st assignment as District Collector. With an ingrained gut feeling he needs to gel with public other than govt servants and work on several challenges ahead”, said Shyam Dash, Ex-President of Rayagada College.
