38 IAS, 5 PCS officers transferred
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 5 Sep: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami effected a major reshuffle in the state bureaucracy late last evening. In all, 38 IAS officers and 5 PCS officers have been transferred besides one Secretariat Cadre officer. These transfers of officers were being awaited for a long time. Some transfers are on expected lines while some have come as a surprise too. According to the political observers, the overall exercise appears to be an attempt to show a semblance of balance within the bureaucracy by lightening the burden of some overburdened officers and to create a balance also between Kumaon and Garhwal. Despite these transfers, some of the allegedly favoured bureaucrats continue to have creamy postings though it was being expected that some of them may get transferred.
Today, the government is understood to have revised transfer orders in the case of three officers namely L Fanai, Ranjit Sinha and Ravinath Raman.
Responsibilities of officers from the level of Principal Secretary to the level of Additional Secretary at the state level have been changed besides transferring some district level officers too. As many as 6 district collectors have been shifted and the most talked about transfer is that of DM Sonika, who has been transferred as Additional Secretary, Cooperatives, in the state administration. She has been replaced by Savin Bansal who also carries a clean image like Sonika.
At the state level, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu has been relieved of his charge as Principal Secretary, Revenue, but will continue to hold other responsibilities. Sudhanshu is considered to be an authority on revenue matters. He has been replaced by Secretary level officer SN Pandey as Secretary, Revenue. Another Principal Secretary L Fanai was relieved of his charge of Minority Welfare and Chairman, Minority Welfare and Waqf Development Corporation, but sources claim that his transfer was cancelled today. Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram is an officer who is considered to be quite close to the CM and holds charge of many creamy departments but many analysts are surprised by his being relieved of his charge as Secretary to the CM and Secretary, Labour, though he will continue to hold charge of all the creamy departments like Power and Housing. Another officer to be relieved from the Chief Minister’s Office is IFS officer Parag Madhukar Dhakate, who was posted as Special Secretary to CM. He will continue to hold charge as Special Secretary Jalagam (Watershed Management).
Secretary Shailesh Bagoli is another IAS officer considered to be in the good books of the CM, but he was overburdened with a number of responsibilities. His burden has been lightened by relieving him of his charge as Secretary, Higher Education. He has been replaced by Secretary Ranjit Sinha, who had been recently transferred out as Secretary, Disaster Management. Sinha has also been given charge of Minority Welfare Department while today he is learnt to have been given charge of Higher Education Department, which in yesterday’s order was given to Ravinath Raman.
Secretary Pankaj Pandey has been replaced as Secretary, AYUSH, by Secretary Ravinath Raman and has been given the charge of Labour Department.
IAS officer Hari Chandra Semwal has been appointed as Excise Commissioner again. The responsibility as MD, SIDCUL, and Commissioner of Industries has been taken back from Vinay Shankar Pandey, who is another officer considered to be in the good books of the CM. He will continue to hold other responsibilities including charge as Secretary to CM, Secretary, Industries, and Commissioner, Garhwal.
One posting much in the news is the additional responsibility as Secretary to CM given to Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat, who is known for his frequent field inspections. He will surprisingly continue to serve as Kumaon Commissioner, the headquarters of which is in Nainital.
IAS officer Sonika, who was District Magistrate Dehradun, has been transferred as Additional Secretary, Cooperatives, as CEO, UCADA, and has been replaced as DM, Dehradun, by Savin Bansal. CEO UCADA, C Ravi Shankar has been relieved of his charge. Jugal Kishore Pant has been relieved as Additional Secretary, Tourism, and given charge as Director Swajal and Additional Secretary Panchayati Raj. DM, Haridwar, Dhiraj Garbyal has been transferred out as Additional Secretary, Rural Development, and PWD. He has been replaced as DM, Haridwar, by Karmendra Singh.
DG, Information, Banshidhar Tiwari, is another officer whose burden has been lightened by relieving him of the post as DG, Education, a charge he successfully handled for a period of almost three years. It is learnt that he had requested the government to be relieved of this charge.
Alok Pandey has been transferred as DM, Almora, while DM, Pithoragarh, Reena Joshi has been transferred out as MD, KMVN, which is considered to be a creamy post. DM, Chamoli, Himanshu Khurana has been relieved as DM and given charge as Chief Executive Officer, PMGSY. Ashish Bhatgai has been appointed as DM, Bageshwar, while Vinod Giri Goswami has been made DM, Pithoragarh. Apoorva Pandey has been given responsibility as Additional Secretary, Drinking Water. Abhinav Shah has been made CDO, Dehradun.
