Some people seldom trumpet their achievements but rather show all their mettle in work. These factions of people never search for any wiggle room of comfort but stay committed to their work. Not many employees of such class reside in Kerala, but yesterday, one incident put the spotlight on the water authority MD Bhandari Swagat Ranveerchand IAS. She is one among the paltry few who really walks the talk. Union workers in Kerala disrupt work citing a myriad of reasons. It is not a new folk in the state but has been a long practiced theatrics that always gets away with impunity. This time, the same union had to eat their words as Maharashtra cadre IAS Bhandari Swagat Ranveerchand put the workers in their place with some adventurous ground-level work that only a few officers can pull off.

The water authority MD yesterday in an unknown fashion, reached homes in the PTP Nagar subdivision to take meter readings all by herself. Earlier the union workers (mostly belonging to the left and Congress faction) opposed the rule that asked the meter readers to cover at least 80 homes daily in the precincts of the corporation. The union quoted the 'burdensome work' bringing fatigue and wanted the number 80 to be lowered. However, dousing all such claims, MD Bhandari covered 80 homes in just three hours giving blues to the meter readers union. The MD after covering 80 homes dismissed claims of fatigue at work—the common concern raised by union workers.

The union workers were taken aback as they predicted the MD to annul the rule but it was rather special from IAS Bhandari, who decided to come out from the comforts of her office and indulged in fieldwork rather amusingly, and effectively. "An expert meter reader can cover 80 homes at ease," says MD Bhandari and she later dismissed the qualms from unions that opposed the rule saying lethargy and fatigue experienced with such burdensome work.

In 2005, when there were just 9 lakh water connections in the state; for rural areas, the meter reader used to cover just 30 homes while in city premises, the numbers jumped to 40 homes. However in 2020, under M Ventikaspathi's leadership, the meter readers had to cover 80 homes in rural and 100 homes in city areas. At that time, the union opposed the move and cited the same ‘burdensome" and ‘’fatigue" as reasons. The current MD made a retrospection of the rules and decided to try the new numbers which was again hindered by the union workers.

Bhandari Swagat Ranveer Chand is a 2010 batch IAS and hails from Maharashtra. She was once the collector of Kasargod and her tenure then was so remarkable that Minister K Rajan lauded her calling “ The gem of Kasargod”. She was known for her amicable connections with the people of the district and triggered many news headlines for all good reasons.

Meanwhile, P Biju of the water authority staff association said the rule won't be allowed to come into place.