Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 13: Senior IAS officer Shalini Pandit has taken stock of development work across Dhenkanal district. Pandit is Joint Secretary in the Union Finance Ministry’s Department of Financial Services. She visited the district as Central Pravari Officer for the Aspirational District Programme.
Her tour covered schools, anganwadi centres, health facilities and livelihood projects. These run under the Centre’s Aspirational District and Block Programmes.
Pandit brought deep familiarity with Odisha’s social sectors to the review. She earlier served the state as Secretary of Health and Family Welfare. She also headed the School and Mass Education Department as Secretary. That experience sharpened her assessment of education and health infrastructure.
The Dhenkanal visit follows her earlier review mission to Malkangiri district. There too, she pressed for faster progress on Aspirational District projects.
Former Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi praised her dedication to social welfare. He described her approach as humane and focused on vulnerable communities.
Her financial services role also brings her to State Level Bankers’ Committee meetings. Principal Secretary (Finance) Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra credited her steady engagement with the SLBC. He said it has helped Odisha improve its credit-deposit ratio.
State officials said banks in Odisha have performed better since her interventions. Credit flow to priority sectors and state development schemes has risen.
