Kasaragod: Kasaragod welcomed the state’s first district collector from the tribal community as Sreedhanya Suresh took over from Arjun Pandian, who has been transferred as Director of the Agriculture Department and Farmers Welfare Department, on Wednesday. A 2019 batch IAS officer, Sreedhanya was serving as Commissioner of Food Safety prior to her transfer to Kasaragod.
A member of the Kurichiya community who grew up in a settlement in Pozhuthana panchayat, Wayanad, Sreedhanya secured the 410th rank in the 2018 Civil Services Examination and was allocated to the Kerala cadre.
Sreedhanya’s father Suresh was a daily wage worker while her mother Kamala used to take up work under the rural employment scheme. “My mother played a crucial role in my growth. She was a great source of motivation and supported me in pursuing my dreams,” she recalled.
Sreedhanya has an elder sister, Sushitha, and a younger brother, Sreerag. “My parents paid utmost importance to our education,” she said. The siblings grew up in a modest house with basic amenities and pursued their education diligently. School was four kilometers away, and Sreedhanya made the daily journey on foot.
After completing her schooling, she studied Zoology at Devagiri College. She went on to complete her master’s degree in Applied Zoology from Calicut University. Following her studies, she joined as an assistant on the Tribal Tourism Project in Wayanad. However, the spark to pursue civil services came when she met the then Mananthavady Sub-Collector Sriram Sambasiva Rao. She subsequently joined a coaching center in Thiruvananthapuram. “The preparation was hectic and I went through the struggle like every aspirant,” she said.
Her first appointment after clearing the UPSC exam was as Assistant Collector of Kozhikode. She has also served as Sub-Collector in Perinthalmanna, Inspector General of the Registration Department, and Commissioner of Food Safety.
Sreedhanya is the second woman collector of Kasaragod after Bhandari Swagat Ranveerchand, who served from 2021 to 2023.
Addressing mediapersons, Sreedhanya expressed great joy in taking up her first posting as District Collector in Kasaragod. “The district has huge potential, especially in tourism, as well as other sectors such as agriculture and industries. I will work towards developing the district and addressing its problems,” she affirmed.
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