By Ram Kumar Kaushik
It's rare when a bureaucrat gets such a respect and glory in return of his tireless and selfless services to the society. Durishetty Anudeep, a 2018 batch IAS officer of Telangana cadre had a dream run serving as the district collector of Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana. He transformed the lives of tribals of a small village – Madhya Gumpu by laying a cement concrete road and connecting the remote village to the mainstream of development. Villagers as a token of respect and appreciation rechristened their village after his name. The village now is known as Anudeep Gumpu.
Anudeep made youngest ever Collector of Hyderabad
Not only resident of this village but the Telanaga government also rewarded efforts of this 33-year old officer and appointed him as the youngest-ever district collector of Hyderabad, considered as a prized posting. This is for the first time an IAS with just five years of service has got this important posting.
This is the power of bureaucracy which when works beyond the red tapism brings transformation and change the lives forever.
What did Anudeep do?
Anudeep, an electronics engineering graduate from BITS Pilani Rajasthan, didn't do any extraordinary work to win hearts of people. He just understood the basic problems the villager were facing for the last five decades. There was no proper road connecting the village and the hamlet was cut off from the main road. Many a time villagers had to suffer a lot in case of emergency. Travelling through muddy road had always been a risk to lives.
Apart government apathy, there were other challenges also for laying a proper arterial road in village. There were a few people who didn't want to give away small portion of their land for road construction. Then land acquisition was a big challenge. But Anudeep consistently counselled those villager and with the help of locals succeeded in acquiring the land.
Within few months, Anudeep laid cement concrete road ensuring connectivity to the mandal headquarters. He took personal interest and monitored the progress of construction daily to keep up the momentum of staff and engineers involved in laying the road. It was because of sheer determination and dedication of Anudeep that the villagers got the road and the village a new name. A name which had given village and its residents a reason to smile, a reason to breathe easily and a reason to progress.
There are some other instances also where villages have been named after IAS officers to commemorate their exceptional work.
All these villages are in down South:
>> A village was named as Asok Nagar in Kadapa district in the constituency of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy in 2006. The CM himself named the village after the then Collector G Asok Kumar, an Andhra cadre 1991 batch IAS, who had helped in quick development of Kadapa district.A village was named as Asok Nagar in Kadapa district in the constituency of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy in 2006. The CM himself named the village after the then Collector G Asok Kumar, an Andhra cadre 1991 batch IAS, who had helped in quick development of Kadapa district.
>> A village in Adilabad district, again in Telangana was named Divyaguda after a 2010 batch IAS officer Divya Devarajan, who as district collector resolved the age-old tribal conflicts in the district.
>> A village in Tamil Nadu – Vakaikulam – was renamed to Vishnu Nagar after V Vishnu, a 2012 batch IAS who brought basic amenities like electricity and water to this backward village while serving as sub collector.
Who is Durishetty Anudeep ?
Durishetty belongs tlo Metpally town in Jagatyal in Telangana. He pursued engineering in Electronics & Instrumentation from BITS Pilani after completion of his schooling from Sri Suryodaya High School and Sri Chaitanya Junior College. His father Durishetty Manohar works as an engineer with a power distribution company. He failed four times before finally cracking the IAS that too with top position.
After graduating he had worked with Google as a software engineer and simultaneously prepared for IAS examination.
Later, he joined Google where he worked as a software engineer and continued his IAS preparations, which he admits to be a little demanding.
A die-hard fan of Arsenal and Federer, Anudeep did not join any formal coaching classes and relied on the Internet for guidance. He did most of his studies on the weekends and was able to successfully clear UPSC.
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