Chandigarh: Senior and decorated IAS officer of 1997 batch Rakhee Gupta Bhandari on Monday joined as Principal Secretary to Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit. She assumed the charge of her office here at Punjab Raj Bhawan this morning.

 A recipient of the prestigious ‘Stree Shakti Puruskar’ in 2011 under the Category of Rani Rudramma Devi Award for administrative skills, leadership quality and commendable work for the overall development of women by the President of India on International Women's Day, Bhandari has a wide administrative experience.

Apart from serving as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, she has rendered service in key Ministries like Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga, Rejuvenation, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Power and Ministry of Textiles, Director NIFT and others.

She was also bestowed the President of India's Silver Medal for Census Operation in 2001, and was also deputed by the Government of India to Bhutan for overseeing the first Parliamentary elections as a National Observer.

Bhandari also had the privilege of representing India at the 29th and 30th Annual Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2015. She had also participated in International delegations as a member in Qatar, Pakistan, China, Syria and Dubai.

A graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, Postgraduate from Delhi School of Economics and an M Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from the National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi, Bhandari is an avid writer and singer, who has also published many articles and poems in leading newspapers and magazines. /BI/