4 DMs among those transferred in major bureaucratic reshuffle
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 20 Jun: In a significant administrative overhaul, the Dhami government late last night announced a sweeping bureaucratic reshuffle, transferring 31 IAS officers, one IFS, one Secretariat Service, and 24 PCS officers. The most talked about transfers include that of Tourism Secretary Sachin Kurve and UCADA CEO Sonika, besides the transfer of 4 DMs. Prominent among these reshuffles was the replacement of District Magistrates in four districts. Ashish Chauhan, the outgoing DM of Pauri, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of UCAADA and Director of Sports and Youth Welfare, with Swati S Bhadoria, formerly serving as Additional Secretary to the Governor and NHM Mission Director, stepping in as the new Pauri DM.
The reshuffle also saw Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan being relieved of his charge in the Watershed Department, while Secretary, Finance Dilip Jawalkar, was entrusted with the department in Bardhan’s place and divested of the charge as Secretary, Co-operatives, which has now been allocated to Dr BVRC Purushottam, who also handles Animal Husbandry and is the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttarakhand. Secretary, Tourism, Sachin Kurve has been relieved of his charge of Tourism and Religious Affairs but not given any significant charge, as yet. Secretary, Public Works, Dr Pankaj Pandey, has been relieved of the Labour Department, while Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Chandresh Yadav, takes charge as Commissioner, Food, ceasing his duties at the Urban Area Development Agency. Secretary, Finance, Dr V Shanmugam relinquishes his post as Director, Audit, and Secretary, Health, Dr R Rajesh Kumar has been relieved of Irrigation and Minor Irrigation portfolios.
Further, the reshuffle includes the posting of Navneet Pandey, former DM, Champawat, as Additional Secretary, Personnel, with Manish Kumar, previously CDO of Udham Singh Nagar, replacing him. DM, Rudraprayag, Saurabh Gaharwar, has been given charge as MD, SIDCUL, and DG, Industries, while Prateek Jain will step in as the new Rudraprayag DM. Similarly, DM, Uttarkashi, Meharban Singh Bisht, has been made Additional Secretary, Energy and Cooperatives, as well as Director, UREDA, and has been replaced as DM, Uttarkashi, by Prashant Kumar Arya, Director, Sports and Additional Secretary, Child Development.
Dr Neeraj Khairwal has been posted to the Language Department, relinquishing Social Welfare, which has now gone to Planning Secretary Sridhar Babu Addanki alongside Labour. Secretary Yugal Kishore Pant will now also handle Irrigation and Minor Irrigation but has been relieved of the responsibilities of the Language and Swajal departments. Very importantly, Secretary Dhiraj Singh Garbyal has been given charge as Secretary, Tourism and Religious Affairs, while being relieved of the charge of Minority Welfare.
Indian Forest Service (IFS) Officer Parag Madhukar Dhakate has been made Special Secretary, Minority Welfare, but has been divested of the charge of Watershed. In Uttarakhand, the Watershed Department has been mostly handled by IFS cadre officers. Sonika, relieved of her roles in Cooperatives, Civil Aviation, and UCAADA, is now expected to focus on her responsibilities as Mela Officer in Haridwar, while Ranjana Rajguru, Additional Secretary, School Education, is now handling Child Development and Women Welfare.
Among the IAS cadre, several adjustments were made across departments, including new assignments for officers such as Anand Swaroop, Reena Joshi, Harish Chandra Kandpal, Manuj Goyal, Sanjay Kumar, and Himanshu Khurana. Additionally, Deepti Singh has taken over as Director General, Education, while Abhishek Ruhela will now look after the Urban Area Development Agency (UADA). There were also positional swaps between CDOs, including Divyesh Shashni moving from Almora to Udham Singh Nagar, and Shyam Singh receiving charge of Sainik Kalyan along with Sugarcane and Sugar Industry.
Among the most talked about reshuffle of the PCS officers is the transfer of Rishikesh Municipal Commissioner Shailendra Negi. The PCS cadre has also undergone extensive reassignments. Bharat Singh Firmal will take charge as Additional Secretary, Secretariat Service, having been relieved of RFC, Kumaon. The Secretary of UKSSSC has been placed on compulsory wait, with Shiv Kumar Barnwal absorbing that role in addition to being Secretary of the Child Commission. Other significant changes include postings for Ramji Sharan Sharma as CDO, Almora, Ashok Kumar Joshi as Director, Dairy Development, and PC Dumka taking over as Additional Housing Commissioner as well as Labour Commissioner and Labour Board Secretary.
In addition, numerous Additional District Magistrates (ADMs) and Municipal Commissioners across districts such as Uttarkashi, Haridwar, Nainital, Rishikesh, Kotdwar and Kashipur have been moved, with several postings involving Joint Directors and Deputy Collectors. Among those transferred include Dayanand Saraswati, Gopal Ram Binwal, Laxmi Raj Chauhan, and Ravindra Singh Bisht.
