New Delhi

Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, who received the award for creating the best IT-based system to fight the Covid-19 in the country as Divisional Commission, Kashmir, is one of the most awarded civil servants of Jammu and Kashmir.

During the 24th National Conference on e-governance at Hyderabad on Friday, his ‘Covid Call Centre and Management System’ project was selected for the ‘gold’ award for using information and communication technology in Covid management.

Choudhary is a 2009 batch IAS officer who hails from Rehan village in Rajouri district of Jammu. He happens to be the first Muslim and also the first from his community of Gurjars to become the civil servant.

He is currently holding the position of Secretary, tribal affairs department, and chief executive officer of the JK Mission-Youth and mission director for the Skill Development Mission. It was during his tenure that tribal communities in Jammu and Kashmir were conferred their rights under the Forest land rights Act. He is a trained veterinarian and has done his masters in forest management from National Forest Institute, Dehradun. He holds key projects close to Prime Minister’s heart and his scheme of things in J&K.

He has received many national awards over the past decade, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for outstanding contribution in 2014-15.

Choudhary’s project was selected for the ‘gold’ award in which the government had received 231 - the highest- from several organisations and districts of the country.

The project, which was conceptualised by Choudhary along with his team member District Informatics Officer Mujtaba Ahmad Banday, saw 98.4 per cent of the over 12 lakh population of Srinagar district getting directly benefiting.

The IAS officer is also a recipient of National E-Governance Award 2015, national award by the Election Commission of India for outstanding achievement in conducting of the 2014 general elections with national level best practices recognition, national award for women empowerment, national award for exceptional achievement in girl child education, governance award and state election award.

Choudhary led from the front when the coronavirus started spreading in March 2020, with Srinagar, where he was then posted as district development commissioner, being the worst hit in Jammu and Kashmir.