Kozhikode(Ker), June 11 (PTI) The first tribal woman from Kerala to clear the All India Civil Services Examination, Sreedhanya Suresh, took charge as Kozhikode Assistant Collector on Thursday. The young officer took charge at the collectorate this evening in the presence of Kozhikode collector S Sambasiva Rao.

The official was on quarantine for the past two weeks in Thiruvananthapuram.

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Taking charge during the Covid-19 crisis was a big responsiblity, she said.

In 2016, while working as a project assistant in the Tribal department in Wayanad she met the then sub collector of Wayanad, S Sambasiva Rao, and she was inspired to become a civil services officer.

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Sreedhanya had bagged the 410th rank in the Civil Services Examination in 2018.

On her cracking the Civil Service, Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had in his Facebook Post stated "Sreedhanya fought the social backwardness and passed the civil services exam with flying colours.

Her achievement will inspire other students in the future."

Sreedhanya, who belongs to the Kuruchiya community, hails from Wayanad district.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)