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MY FIRST DAY: WOMEN OFFICERS WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE IN KODAGU (COORG)

By P.T. Bopanna

As a journalist, I have been following the developments in Kodagu (Coorg) district in the last four decades.

Among the women officers posted in the district, three women officers of the all-India cadre have left their imprint in the administration of Kodagu.

I recall with fondness my first day as a journalist which involved interviewing the beautiful Veena Sriram Rao (in picture), IAS, who was then the deputy commissioner of Kodagu. 

I had joined The Hindu newspaper as their Coorg correspondent in the early 1980s. My first assignment was to interview Veena Rao. I was initially nervous of meeting the lady. But as we got talking over a hot cup of tea in her office located in the misty Madikeri town, the district headquarters, my nervousness subsided. She gave me good copy (news).

Veena Rao was a dynamic officer who took up several developmental activities. She was totally backed by the then chief minister of Karnataka, R. Gundu Rao, who hailed from Kodagu.

I can say with pride that Kodagu was the best administered district when both the DC and the SP were women – Annies K. Joy was the DC and Dr Suman D. Pennekar was the SP.

Kodagu was lucky to have these officers at a critical time of the three consecutive years of landslides and the Covid epidemic. Both led from the front to tackle the challenges triggered by landslides and covid.

I rate Dr Suman Pennekar as the finest officer who served in Kodagu. She won the hearts of the people in the hill district through hard work and fearless policing.

Suman led the operation that resulted in the arrest of timber merchant

Kallichanda Noban and seized timber worth Rs 1 crore following a raid on his house.

Both the DC and SP sent shivers down the spine of the notorious timber mafia who were a law unto themselves over the years.

People of Kodagu should be grateful to the DC Annies Joy for putting in place the infrastructure for treating Covid-19 patients. Having been one of the first qualified nurses to be selected for the IAS in 2012, Annies used her professional knowledge to build the infrastructure when the first wave of the coronavirus hit India.

She was posted in Kodagu in 2019. She was extensively involved in the preparations to gear up the district for a possible landslide in view of the 2018 devastating landslides that hit Kodagu.

However, Annies had a controversial tenure as she was instrumental in the construction of ‘Coorg Village’ shopping complex near Raja Seat area which had witnessed landslides.

Annies launched her second ‘assault’ on Raja Seat by taking up a ‘beautification’ project involving over Rs 4.5 crore. The fact that excavators were used for construction of pathways, shocked the residents of the town who were already under fear due to the landslides. This earned her the nickname ‘Excavator Annies’.

Annies suffered the wrath of the Kodava community after she banned the entry of pilgrims to Talacauvery shrine during the Theerthodbava. It was being speculated that this was done at the instance of a BJP leader who was trying to score political points.