Tamil Nadu

Four IAS officers attain the age of superannuation today

CHENNAI: Four Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of the Tamil Nadu cadre who guided the specific activities of the State under their control — N. Narayanan, M.S. Srinivasan, A. Nagarajan and M.P. Vijayakumar — attained the age of superannuation on Thursday.

Former Chief Secretary N. Narayanan, who made a contribution to achieving the fiscal turnaround of the State in 2002-2003 retires as Commissioner of Archives.

When Jayalalithaa took charge as Chief Minister in 2001, revenue deficit had ballooned to levels hitherto never known. With her sanction, Mr. Narayanan, who served most part of his career in finance, negotiated with the World Bank to obtain a structural adjustment loan (SAL) and a project-based loan. Though the SAL did not come through, he was successful in getting a slew of other project loans. The State Finance department convinced the Centre and leading financial institutions to approve a debt swap arrangement to reduce interest commitments.

Now Petroleum Secretary at the Centre M.S. Srinivasan was in charge of Metrowater in the early Nineties and managed the water situation during back-to-back bad monsoon years. At that time, both the Krishna water scheme and the new Veeranam scheme were still on paper and were being debated. Mr. Srinivasan was of the firm view that both were required for the city, given the rate of its growth. He also tried growing mini-forests on Metrowater swamps in Koyambedu and Nesapakkam in a bid to give Chennai some greenery.

Former Army officer Captain (Retd.) Nagarajan presided over the Planning of the State with support from a wide range of academics and colleagues.

M.P. Vijayakumar, retires as Project Director, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. The School Education department wants him to continue but the officer himself has conveyed he would be willing to continue in an honorary capacity.

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