Kochi: The new collector of Ernakulam, K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla, a 2010 batch IAS officer from Ammapet Vidya Nagar, Salem, Tamil Nadu, was director of state IT Mission, deputy secretary of IT department and project director of E- Health Kerala.
He handled major projects while serving in the IT department, including Akshaya, E-District, E-Office, E- Procurement, state data centres, Aadhar, Mobile Governance and Computer Emergency Response Team.
He also served as sub-collector of Idukki and assistant collector of Palakkad.
Mr. Safirulla finished 55th in the UPSC examinations fulfilling the wishes of his father, a former teacher, and his mother, Mehatab Begum, an associate professor in Saradha College, Salem.
Mr Safirulla, their youngest son, possesses BE and MBA, and was a student of St. John's Higher Secondary School, Salem. His wife Asiya Yasmeen is a software professional. Before joining the civil service, Mr Safirulla worked with IT companies like IBM and TCS for nearly five years.
Rajamanickam initiated many welfare projects
Kochi city witnessed exponential growth in all directions during the tenure of outgoing district collector M.G. Rajamanickam, who assumed office in February 2014.
Mr. Manickam could address the complaint that when the city was witnessing mega development activities, the district’s rural areas were being neglected. He initiated a series of social welfare measures in education, housing and healthcare sectors for the district’s comprehensive development.
When he leaves the post, Mr. Manickam has many unique projects to his credit like ‘Ente kulam Ernakulam’ and ‘Pa Pa Padhikkam Padhippikkam.’ He also gave wholehearted support for charity services initiated by NGOs like Anpodu Kochi.
Mr. Manickam was selected as the best district collector in 2015 for the speedy land acquisition for several projects such as Metro rail, Smart City, Electronic Park project at Amballoor, sea port - airport road, launching novel projects like Jyothi and Bhoomigeetham and BPL card distribution.
During his tenure, he could successfully coordinate three elections as the district electoral officer, including Lok Sabha polls in 2014, local body elections in 2015 and the Assembly polls this year, a rare achievement. Recently, the state government had appointed him as special officer of Cochin Cancer Institute.
While focusing on land acquisition for big-ticket projects, Mr. Manickam gave equal importance to address issues of rural areas like the housing problems of tribals in Kuttambuzha.
The young collector also initiated measures to improve the functioning of civil station with the installation of CCTV cameras and removal of flex boards from the office premises of the collectorate.
Mr. Manickam has been appointed as the managing director of Kerala Financial Corporation with additional charge of additional commissioner, excise.
