Bhubaneswar: Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhi assumed charge as Principal Secretary Cooperation Department on Tuesday. After joining Dr. Padhi interacted with the department officials.
During the interaction, he talked about his priorities for the department. He categorically said that discipline, honesty, and accountability of the officers are his top priority.
He also discussed important issues relating to the Cooperation Department with the senior officers. He said crop insurance, computerisation of PACS, audit of PACS, facilitation of inter-state trade through e-NAM, creation of meaningful infrastructures of cooperatives, and building an image of the Cooperation Department are some of his priorities.
He has advised the department staff to use hand-woven fabrics every Friday and strictly directed them not to use pan, bidi, tamakhu, cigarettes, and alcohol. During the interaction RCS, Odisha, all Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, and other senior officers were present.
Dr. Padhi is also the Principal Secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Handlooms, Textiles, and Handicrafts Department.
Padhee has experience of more than two decades in public administration and policy-making. Among the various positions he has held are District Magistrate and Collector; Director, Agriculture, and Food Production; Revenue Divisional Commissioner; Chief Administrator, Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri; Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Tourism and Culture Department, Odisha, and Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Government of India. During his tenure with the Odisha Government, he was instrumental in drafting the Odisha State Agriculture Policy in 2008. He has also served as a member of the Technical Support Group of the erstwhile Planning Commission that prepared the District Agricultural Plan manual.
