Coimbatore gets new corporation chief

COIMBATORE: The state government transferred city corporation commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara on Sunday and posted him as executive director of the Chennai metro water supply and sewerage board.
M Prathap, additional collector (development) and project officer of the district rural development agency in Tiruvannamalai district, will replace Sunkara.
Prathap, hailing from a farming family in Virudhunagar district, had won laurels in 2016, when he emerged as state topper in UPSC and secured the 21st rank.
A Chemical Engineering graduate from Anna University, Prathap was posted as sub-collector in Dharmapuri and Karur, before taking over as additional collector in Tiruvannamalai district. In Tiruvannamalai, where Prathap has been serving about an year, he was credited as a proactive officer.
Sunkara, meanwhile, had a short stint in Coimbatore, barely completing a year as corporation commissioner. He took charge of the top post in June last year. Though he faced several limitations due to fund crunch, Sunkara took measures to tackle issues pertaining to solid waste management, streamlined building approval process and reduced waste disposal time. Touted as a clean officer, he also made efforts to check corruption.
Incidentally, it was during Sunkara's tenure that urban local body polls were conducted and the city got councillors after a long gap. Though there were teething problems of coordination between officers of the corporation and councillors, he ensured that such issues did not snowball.
Prathap is expected to take charge in the coming week.