TSWREIS chief RS Praveen Kumar puts in his papers

Hyderabad: Senior IPS officer and Secretary, Telangana State Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS), R S Praveen Kumar on Monday has applied for voluntary retirement.

His decision to quit from the Indian Police Service (IPS) assumed political significance amid growing by election heat in the Huzurabad Assembly constituency from where BJP leader Eatala Rajender launched padayatra on Monday morning.

Speculations are doing rounds that he is likely to be given the TRS ticket to contest the elections from Huzurabad which consisted 45,000 voters from the Dalit community. The total voters in this constituency are 2.26 lakh.

Some TRS leaders feel that he would be entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the just launched Dalit Bandhu programme for which the government has earmarked Rs 1,200 crore this year.

Praveen has been serving as Secretary to TSWREIS since 2010 and he made his mark in strengthening the residential educational institutions to provide quality education to weaker sections in the State.

In a statement, Praveen said, "With a heavy heart (and joy at the same time), I am sharing with you my decision to voluntarily retire from government service. I have mailed my request to the Chief Secretary of Government of Telangana today. It was not easy to arrive at this life-changing decision, given my humble beginnings and the arduous journey to become an IPS officer.

However, the pure pleasure of following my passion hereafter has helped me overcome this uncertainty," he said. Stating that he had tried to perform the duty that was expected by the Constitution of India all through his 26 years of service, Praveen Kumar said he would use the rest of his life to fulfil the unfinished dreams of the 'doyens of social justice', Mahatma Phule couple, Dr BR Ambedkar and Kanshiram.