Chennai: Chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday gave away awards to district collectors and police officers for their service in public administration on the concluding day of the two-day conference in the city.Former Dindigul collector M N Poongodi, former Tiruvallur collector T Prabhushankar and former Pudukkottai collector I S Mercy Ramya were given the Green Awards (2024-25) for environmental protection. Tamil Official Language Awards (2023) were presented to former Sivaganga collector Asha Ajith and former Kanniyakumari collector P N Sreedhar.Awards for work towards the welfare of persons with disabilities went to former Virudhunagar collector Dr V P Jeyaseelan (2024) and former Dharmapuri collector K Shanthi, former Ranipet collector Dr J U Chandrakala and former Thanjavur collector P Priyanka (2025).Former Kanniyakumari collector R Alagumeena received the award for best district collector for resolving petitions received through the chief minister’s grievance redress cell, while former Avadi police commissioner K Shankar was named best police commissioner.Health department awards for performance across 20 health indicators were presented to former Dindigul collector S Saravanan, Coimbatore collector Pawan Kumar G Giriyappanavar and former Namakkal collector Durga Moorthy. Crime control awards went to former Villupuram SP V V Sai Praneeth, former Ariyalur SP Viswesh Balasubramaniam, former Krishnagiri SP P Thangadurai and Kanniyakumari SP Dr R Stalin.The conference, held on Monday and Tuesday, included separate sessions for district collectors, police and forest officials. On the opening day, Vijay directed officials to ensure there was no interference by private individuals in administration and stressed transparent, impartial governance. He reviewed public distribution, education, drinking water, healthcare, power supply, roads, transport, law and order, women’s and children’s safety, and environmental protection, while instructing officials to provide prompt and unbiased public services.
