Hyderabad: Hari Chandana Dasari, IAS officer who is presently the collector of Narayanpet has been honoured with the British Council Award 2021 by the UK Government for creating a social impact in India. Incidentally, she is the only officer to receive this award from India.
A 2010 batch officer, she made rapid strides in her career with out-of-the-box ideas in solid waste management, recycling, pet-friendly parks, rejuvenation of water bodies, use of drones in spraying, reaching out to poor by way of ‘Feed the Need’ kiosks and use of recycled plastic for laying footpaths.
Her latest initiative is ‘Her & Now’ project in which a group of women entrepreneurs would be selected and trained in business promotion. It is jointly launched with We Hub a part of Telangana Government’s Information technology department.
She is an MSc in Global Policy from London School of Economics and Political Science. Before taking up responsibilities as collector of Narayanpet district, Miss Hari Chandana Dasari made a mark at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
From developing parks, restoring heritage monuments, turning dump yards into usable civic areas, she gained a lot of respect from peers as well as citizens. While she was working in GHMC, the Serilingampally division office was conferred as India’s first Zero Waste Office thanks to her eco-friendly initiatives. A lot of credit is given to her for her initiation of Loo café, luxury toilets. The model was well received and the Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir is replicating it.
