By P.T. Bopanna
Charulata Somal (in picture), IAS, the first IAS officer to have gone on an expedition to Antarctica, on Saturday took over as the new deputy commissioner of Kodagu (Coorg) district.
Interestingly, two previous DCs of Kodagu were also women, including the outgoing DC Annies Joy and Sreevidya P.I. who preceded her. In early 1980s, Veena Sriramrao had worked as Kodagu DC.
Somal, a 2012-batch IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre, had served as CEO of Kodagu zilla panchayat way back in 2016. She is an economic honours graduate from St. Stephen’s College of Delhi University.
She is the first IAS officer to have gone on an expedition to Antarctica. In March 2016, she was part of the International Antarctic Expedition led by Robert Swan for ‘A Leadership on the Edge Program to the Last Wilderness on Earth’
A committed environmentalist, Somal, started E-base in Kodagu after her return from Antarctica to promote environmental education.
Somal has previously held several posts, including as commissioner, Shimoga city corporation and was also attached to the chief minister’s office.