Senior IAS officer A Santhi Kumari on Wednesday assumed charge as the new Chief Secretary of Telangana.
On receiving the appointment orders, Santhi Kumari reached Pragathi Bhavan and met Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who congratulated her on the appointment.
Speaking to the media after taking charge at BRK Bhavan later, Kumari thanked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for being appointed as the Chief Secretary, and said that it was a proud moment for her to be appointed as the first woman Chief Secretary of Telangana.
She said that she would work in close coordination with officials and public representatives to ensure that the flagship programs of the State government were implemented properly.
A 1989 batch officer, Santhi Kumari was appointed by the State government in place of Somesh Kumar, whose allotment to Telangana via an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal was quashed by the Telangana High Court.
A postgraduate in marine biology, Kumari also completed an MBA in the US. She served in various capacities in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and later in Telangana. She was serving as the Special Chief Secretary for the Environment and Forests Department until yesterday.
Kumari has over three decades of experience in a wide range of areas, including poverty alleviation, inclusive development, education, health, skill development and forestry. She also served in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for two years overseeing financial inclusion.
She had also worked in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) for four years as Principal Secretary and headed the "Industry Chasing Cell" which is mandated to implement the single window industrial clearances under the name TS-iPASS.