Chennai: Making Chennai safer and more accessible for pedestrians will be among the top priorities of Greater Chennai Corporation’s new commissioner, Dr G S Sameeran. The 2012-batch IAS officer, who assumed charge on Tuesday, told TOI that his immediate priorities also include flood mitigation, civic preparedness and curbing stray dog menace. G S Sameeran replaced J Kumaragurubaran, who served as commissioner for 22 months. Sameeran previously served as GCC’s joint commissioner (works) for a year till 2024. He is an MBBS graduate from Kerala University, and holds a PG diploma in Urban Environment from National Law University Delhi. He was also district collector of Tenkasi and Coimbatore, managing director of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board and of Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage BoardHe is the recipient of the Girl Child Protection Award 2022, the chief minister’s Award for Employment and Skill Development Plan 2021, and the National Award for Best PSU 2020 as managing director of the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation.Sameeran is better known as an ardent fan of the late filmmaker Padmarajan, known for his works in Malayalam. He discussed films and authored books exhibited at the Coimbatore Book Fair during his tenure as Coimbatore collector. The path from medicine to public administration has now led Sameeran to the helm of GCC.Soon after signing in as commissioner on Tuesday morning, Sameeran drove to the Secretariat to meet chief minister C Joseph Vijay.
