Bhubaneswar: The first visually impaired OAS officer Sanyasi Kumar Behera has joined the state government service as district social security officer. He has been placed in the ‘social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities (SSEPD) department’ at the Unit 6 Capital Hospital campus here, Thursday.
Behera said he would dedicate himself to the cause of the most marginalised persons with disabilities. His main focus would be on the requirements of the visually-impaired in the mainstream of the society, under two new government schemes focusing on senior citizens.
What he has achieved was the outcome of his long legal battle. He campaigned tirelessly in the past for induction of visually impaired persons in the administrative service sector.
The 43-year-old Sanyasi cleared the Odisha Administrative Services (OAS) exams this year, securing an all-Odisha ranking of 220, and stood first among the differently abled candidates.
Sanyasi hails from a poor family in Kishoreprasad village under Ganiya block in Nayagarh district, completed his matriculation from the Bhima Bhoi School for the Blind here and had his graduation from the Algappa University in Tamil Nadu. He also completed an office management course.
