AURANGABAD: The number of women occupying key positions in governance has been on the rise in Parbhani. The latest in this line has been the appointment of IPS officer R Ragasudha as superintendent of police (SP) of the district on Thursday. Three of the appointments have come since September this year. 

The state home department on Thursday issued transfer orders for several IPS officers, which brought Ragasudha back to Parbhani. An IPS officer of the 2015 batch, she had earlier served as additional SP in Parbhani and was last posted as commandant of the State Reserve Police Force, Jalna. 

Now, Parbhani’s SP, district collector, municipal commissioner and principal district and sessions judge are all women. In addition, the district has a woman Rajya Sabha MP and a woman MLA. 

When contacted, Ragasudha said she was excited to work with the best of woman officials heading different departments in Parbhani district. “Parbhani can be seen as an example to convey to society that if equal opportunity is given, women can shoulder any responsibility,” she told TOI. 

Earlier this month, in the absence of a full-time chief executive officer, Parbhani zilla parishad's additional CEO Rashmi Khandekar was given charge of the top post. She is the project director for the district rural development agency. 

On September 1, the Parbhani municipal corporation got Trupti Sandbhor as its commissioner. The state cadre officer was earlier additional commissioner of the Panvel municipal corporation. 

Aanchal Goyal, a 2014 batch IAS officer, took charge as Parbhani district collector in August 2021. Known as an upright and no-nonsense officer, her posting to Parbhani made headlines after it came to the fore that local politicians were resisting her posting to the district. 

Ujwala Nandeshwar, a member of the judiciary, was recently posted as principal district and sessions judge of Parbhani district. She had earlier served as principal district and sessions judge at Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman-Diu. The district's regional transport office is headed by deputy RTO Ashwini Swami. 

The district also has its Rajya Sabha MP Dr Fauzia Khan and Jintur assembly constituency MLA Meghna Bordikar. 

Khandekar said she had noted the posting of woman officials in Parbhani and shared it on the social media.