Sonia Narang

Roopa

Rohini Sindhuri

Karnataka

Election Commission

Bengaluru

Central Administrative Tribunal

sindhu 2

Tumkur Urban Development Authority

Another gutsy lady emerges afterand DIAS officerDasari is doing what would be deemed ‘unwise’ in the senior bureaucratic circles. The 33-year-old Deputy Commis­sioner of Hassan district (serving since July last year) is going up against the government for transferring her prematurely. But it’s a fight she’s more than willing to take up, primarily because she believes short tenures come in the way of development.Dasari may have inadvertently joined a growing list of powerful women officers of– including D Roopa and Sonia Narang – who not only broke through the glass ceiling but also made a mark by standing up to bureaucracy and politics, when they came in the way of good work.According to sources, the transfer came as a result of the differences between Dasari and district in-charge minister A Manju. Manju, along with other Congress leaders, has complained against her in the past too. But the rift between the two deepened over the tender for the construction of a viewer’s gallery atop Vindhyagiri for the Mahamastakabhisheka event in February.While Manju had insisted on handing over the work (estimated to be worth Rs 11.75 crore) to Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd, Dasari had decided to hand it over to the Public Works Department.In January this year, Chief Election Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar halted the transfer of Dasari, along with two other DCs of Haveri and Ramanagaram, citing technicalities.Again, in the first week of March, the state government sought permission of theto transfer Dasari and three other IAS officers in addition to a couple of IPS officials.On March 7, Dasari was transferred as Commissioner of the Department of Employment and Training,. The state government had issued a show-cause notice to her for allegedly violating government protocol by not being present to receive the chief minister when he came for the Mahamastakabhisheka.Dasari, a 2009-batch IAS officer from Karnataka cadre, had moved the High Court, challenging the’s (CAT’s) order, which had asked her to give representation to the Chief Secretary against transferring from the post.The HC recently directed CAT, Bengaluru, to consider afresh the application filed by Dasari against her transfer. The court noted that the CAT, while asking the officer to submit a representation to the chief secretary, hadn’t actually taken a decision on her application. Disposing of her petition, a division bench directed all parties to the dispute to appear before the tribunal on April 2. The court also specified that until CAT disposes of her application, status quo should be maintained on her posting.This is not the first time she has been a victim of a premature transfer. Her transfer from Mandya, where she was posted as Zilla Panchayat CEO, was rather sudden too. Several like- minded individuals and organisations had written to the Chief Minister to revoke her transfer in the interest of the district’s development. In vain, of course.“I was doing very well and it was just one year, three months and some random guy was complaining about something,” Dasari told BM, explaining how her untimely exit from Mandya had no reasonable explanation. “When they can’t find anything, they’ll say ‘Gaurava Kotilla’ [did not get respect]. What does it even mean?”The officer says it irks her that politics comes in the way of good work.“We are here to solve people’s issues… We were supposed to declare the district Open Defecation Free and I had only requested for two to three months so that I could finish the work. But they wanted to know what my interest was in staying,” she said.Dasari’s transfer has brought in criticism for the government from all sides. JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda alleged that the transfer was an example of the “high-handedness” of CM Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleague A Manju.The tender controversy aside, Dasari says she takes pride in the fact that the Mahamastakabhisheka “was a grand success”.“Along with my team, we worked for almost 20 hours every day and the event brought such a good name for the state. Pilgrims from across the country participated; but this is what we get for doing good,” rued Dasari.The official is also a young mother, and gives her family credit for taking care of her daughter, who is just one year and three months old, in her absence.“We had to see to it that the state put its best foot forward and I had the most responsibility to do that. Everything went on very well,” she said, adding that it seems unfair to be “thrown out for your hard work and diligence.”When an officer gets posted to a district, they take time to understand the place which has its own challenges. “By the time you put an administration in place, form a team and start working, you are asked to leave… I want to work and I should be given the time and space to do something,” she said.“There have been several examples of officers being shifted out for doing the right thing. But young officers are calling [me] and saying that it is a good step and it motivates them. The traditional wisdom is ‘pack your bags and go’. When we have legal backing that says we need to be given a tenure in public interest, then that has to be respected. Nobody is above law,” she said.For the strong lady, her strength, she says, comes from her family, where she’s surrounded by strong women. “I have a very strong sense of right and wrong. That drives my actions with honesty and integrity. It is tough to stand up for right, especially when there is resistance from all sides… We should not feel that nothing is in my hands. If an officer feels like that, what will the common man do,” she asks.Dasari says while she’s inherently a strong person, her mother, Shrilakshsmi, has been a big influence in her life When asked where she gets her strength, she said: “I have a support system at home in the form of my mother, mother in-law and sister. All the women in my home are strong-willed and opinionated. Nobody says you are a woman, don’t try to this. This kind of talk never happens in our home. I have a daughter and I hope she will be a strong woman when she grows up,” says the officer, who also has a five-year-old son.To stay calm and focused, she practices yoga and meditation, and reads books. This she recommends for everyone.Dasari (33), a native of Andhra Pradesh, has served as Assistant Commissioner of Tumakuru in 2011 and Commissioner ofin 2012. She also served as Director of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department (self- employment project) in Bengaluru.She took charge as the Zilla Panchayat CEO Mandya in June 2014. Impressed by the performance of Mandya district in implementing the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the Union government had selected Mandya Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer to train district collectors/deputy commissioners of various states in New Delhi.