Dinesh Arora

Early life

Dr. Dinesh Arora hails from Chandigarh, Punjab. Arora completed his MBBS in medicine surgery and acquired first division with distinction.He is one of the Indian bureaucrats who clinched five out of 12 berths of Prestigious Chevening Gurukul Scholarship 2011 for Leadership and Excellence, awarded by the British government for a 12-week-long course in London School of Economics and Political Science. He can speak four languages: his mother tongue, Punjabi, Malayalam, Hindi; and English.

Career

He became an IAS officer in 2002 and was allotted Kerala cadre. Arora has held various positions as Sub-Collector Ottapalam, IT MIssion Director, Collector of Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram, Secretary (Health), State Mission Director - Arogyakeralam, Managing Director - KMSCL and Special Officer Food Safety, Govt. of Kerala. From 2011- 14, he was a private secretary to Former Indian Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology and Shipping, Milind Deora, Government of India.

Crackdown against illegal sand mining

Serving as the Ottappalan Sub-Collector, Arora took stern action against illegal sand-mining in the Bharathapuzha at Ottapalam, Pattambi, Thrithala, and Thiruvananthapuram. The illegal mining of sand was carried out indiscriminately using covert means from ‘kadavus' in the capital district in Kerala. No ‘kadavus' have been approved and no passes have been issued by geologists. In spite of various directions and court orders, the law enforcement agencies had failed to control this illegal activity. Quoting Shri Arora, The Hindu newspaper mentioned the local bodies that were auctioning sand had failed to stop illegal sand-mining, which had resulted in the destruction of the river.

Strict rules for students’ road safety in Kerala

His campaign in Kerala to ensure that schools comply with safety regulations is highly praised. He took the charge to inforce various safety measures viz. display ‘On school duty' boards on auto rickshaws, cars, mini-vans and other hired while transporting students. He also mandated maximum carriage capacity for auto rickshaws, 10 years of driving experience and an EIB driving permit for the drivers. He made it mandatory for school buses to have a fire extinguisher, first-aid box, well-fortified windows, lockable doors and emergency exits. Arora also ordered Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) to impound student carriers violating safety norms after April 1, 2011 and to prosecute their drivers and registered owners.

Ban on illegal mining operations in the quarries in Thiruvananthapuram

Acting as a District Collector and District Magistrate, Dr. Arora banned all the blasting operations leading to illegal and unscientific cutting in the quarries in Thiruvananthapuram to ensure the health and safety of the people. This was followed by constitution of a committee headed by the Additional District Magistrate along the District Geologist and the District Officer of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) as members to carry out a safety audit of mining operations in the 181 quarries in the district.

Ensured free and fair polling at Kannur

Arora made the polling at Kannur district in Kerala free and fair by deploying 150 videographers at sensitive booths, all trained to capture critical events on election day, like sealing of electronic voting machines (EVMs), positioning of voting compartments, polling agents, voters waiting in queue at the close of scheduled hour and the last voter in queue, visits of sector officers, the observers and other electoral functionaries. Kannur, otherwise has been one of the most difficult poll pavements during elections.

Formulation of strict guidelines for parading of elephants

In the midst of growing dissonance between Kerala’s captive elephants and the mobile-toting population, Dr. Dinesh Arora (the then District Collector of Thiruvananthapuram) formulated a new set of regulations after a district-level meeting to prevent cruelty to elephants under the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules 2003. The regulations came into effect from May 1, 2011 and it demanded organisers of celebrations using elephants to seek permission from the District Forest Officer, two weeks in advance. The DFO is now required to submit a copy of the permit to the Collector. This permit is based on a certificate issued by the Forest Veterinary Officer or the veterinary surgeon of the Elephant Squad. The DFO has to inspect the mahout's certificate, movement register and other documents to ensure that the elephant to be paraded is free of musth, diseases, injuries and signs of pregnancy, before issuing a permit.

Innovations in the Health Sector

As State Mission Director, Arogyakeralam of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Govt. of Kerala, Arora has been successful in adding innovativeness suiting the local situation that made health initiatives all the more fruitful. The following innovative schemes were implemented under various heads:

Additionally, he under took a Rapid Assessment to explore the overall reach as well as the performance of the Radio Health FM programme in Thiruvananthapuram in disseminating health promotion among the public.

Publications