Balangir top cop doubles up as career counsellor

Debabrata Mohapatra | TNN | Updated: Apr 22, 2020, 14:17 IST

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BHUBANESWAR: As the lockdown pushes students and job aspirants into a quandary about their future, IPS officer Sandeep Madkar, who is the SP of Balangir district, has started a tele-counselling programme for them.
Madkar is not the lone career counsellor. He has roped in domain experts from various fields to help out the job aspirants at this time of crisis. Madkar himself is guiding students on subjects related to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
“I requested professionals from different fields in Balangir to join me in counselling the aspirants. Our team includes experts from the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC), medicine (MBBS and BAMS), law, hotel management, Odisha Staff Selection Commission, armed force, banking, photography and architecture,” Madkar said.
Phone numbers of the domain experts have been shared by Balangir Police for public knowledge. The experts have been receiving telephone calls and e-mails from a number of worried job seekers, who need advice on their future, from Balangir district and other places in the state.
“I received some queries from students who asked me about the UPSC examinations. Some even asked about strategies and subjects to choose for the IAS/IPS examinations. Seeing our initiative on social media, a number of other experts have evinced an interest in joining us. We will add engineering subject to our counselling list,” Madkar said.
Suman Ranjita Singh, a young deputy superintendent of police in Balangir, is guiding aspirants on preparations for Odisha Police Service (OPS) and other jobs conducted by the Odisha Public Service Commission. “I have shared my e-mail IDs so that I can stay in touch with youths in case I miss their calls during hectic lockdown duty,” Singh said.
Singh said the callers wanted to discuss issues that were not just related to career and jobs. “We can realize the plight and stress of people during the lockdown,” she said.