: When Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, retired from service on Wednesday after attaining superannuation, he was given a send-off on a scale unprecedented, perhaps the first-of-its-kind farewell to a bureaucrat in the country.
The farewell and felicitation of the outgoing and the first Chief Secretary of the youngest State of Telangana was attended by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, his Cabinet colleagues, Advisors, Deputy Speaker, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, bureaucrats, HoDs, DGP, Advocate General, and entire Secretariat employees. A specially erected and decorated dais in the sprawling ground in the Secretariat was the venue.
The honour accorded to Mr. Sharma was in recognition of his services to the State right from its inception and steering it through a critical phase amid several post-bifurcation challenges posed by Andhra Pradesh and implementing the vision of the government with commitment, said the Chief Minister in his address. “This felicitation for him is to express our affection and gratitude. He is a great asset to the State and we need his services to achieve more,” Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said, announcing his new appointment as the Chief Advisor to the government, a post with a Cabinet rank.
Hand picked by Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao himself, Mr. Sharma was the Additional Secretary in Home Affairs at Delhi and earlier associated with the Sri Krishna Committee as the Head of Centre for Good Governance in helping the committee gather data related to united State. He dealt with post-bifurcation skirmishes with the Andhra Pradesh government about Schedule X institutions, division of employees, power crisis, distribution of river waters, without ever losing his cool or patience. In the last two-and-a-half years, he ensured that the State won about a dozen awards including No.1 rank in Ease of Doing Business, the Chief Minister said. He credited Mr. Sharma with the success of comprehensive household survey which other States wanted to follow now and the recent reorganisation of districts.
Mr. Rao had a good word for the new incumbent Chief Secretary K. Pradeep Chandra and the TSIPASS prepared by him as Secretary, Industry, which became the best industrial policy. Responding to the felicitations, Mr. Sharma expressed his gratitude and said the felicitation was great recognition to civil service as civil servants worked like a team to translate the Chief Minister’s vision, government’s political commitments and policies into reality. He thanked the Chief Minister for giving him freedom in implementation once policy decisions were taken. “I had seen Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao speaking for seven hours before Sri Krishna Committee reeling out data. I was impressed with his passion for Telangana and believed in his conviction to do good for the State,” Mr. Sharma said. On the post of Chief Advisor, he said, “ It is a privilege and honour.”
