By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
DEHRADUN, 21 May: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle in the state, the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government today transferred as many as 16 senior IAS officers and some PCS officers.
In an order issued under the signature of Additional Chief Secretary, Personnel, Radha Raturi, the government changed the responsibilities of some of the major departments. Some officers have been partially affected by the order, as some of their responsibilities have changed hands while some remain with them. The transfers include two District Magistrates also. Sources claim that another reshuffle is on the cards in about a month’s time!
Additional Chief Secretary Om Prakash, who currently is Additional Chief Secretary to the CM, PWD, Technical Education, Mining, and has additional charge as Chairman of the Revenue Board and Chairman of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation and also is Chief Resident Commissioner, New Delhi, has been relieved of the PWD, and as Chairman, BRIDCUL. He has not been given any additional responsibility, while most other responsibilities remain under his charge.
Principal Secretary Anand Vardhan, who held charge of Forests & Environment, Excise, Higher Education, has been given additional charge of Planning and Externally Aided Projects Departments.
Secretary, Information and Science Technology, RK Sudhanshu has been given additional charge of the PWD and as Chairman, BRIDCUL, replacing Om Prakash.
Another important department that changed hands today was that of Health & Family Welfare. Secretary, Health, Home, Housing and Prisons, Nitesh Jha was relieved of charge of the Health Department and given additional charge of Irrigation, Minor Irrigation and Drinking Water Departments. Secretary, Finance, Amit Singh Negi has replaced him as in charge of the Health Department. He, in turn, has been relieved of the Planning and Externally Aided Projects Departments.
Secretary, Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry, R Meenakshi Sundaram has been given additional charge as Project Coordinator of ILSP and made Project Director of UGVS. Secretary, Transport, Shailesh Bagoli has been relieved as Transport Commissioner, Uttarakhand, and given additional charge of the Disaster Management Department. Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Sugar & Sugarcane and Labour, Harbans Singh Chugh was relieved of Panchayati Raj and given additional charge of Forests & Environment. Secretary, Drinking Water, Forests & Environment, Arvind Singh Hyanki has been relieved of all his charges and made Commissioner, Kumaon.
Secretary (In-charge) BK Sant has been given additional charge of Panchayati Raj, while DM, Tehri, V Shanmugam has been transferred as Additional Secretary, Women Empowerment and Child Welfare. DM, Udham Singh Nagar, Dr Neeraj Khairwal, who also held additional charge as Commissioner, Kumaon, has been relieved as Commissioner. DK Chaudhary, who was waiting for a posting for some time, now has the charge of Commissioner, Transport, and Government Estate Officer.
DM, Rudraprayag, Mangesh Ghildiyal has been made DM, Chamoli. He was replaced as DM, Rudraprayag, by Vandana, who was earlier posted as CDO, Pithoragarh. She has been replaced by Saurabh Geherwar, who was earlier Deputy Collector, Pithoragarh.
Among the PCS officers transferred today was Additional Secretary, Jharna Kamthan, who is no longer Additional Secretary, Women Empowerment. She has been made Additional Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), replacing Dr AbhishekTripathi. ADM, Dehradun, Ramji Sharan has been transferred as ADM, Rudraprayag. He will be replaced as ADM Dehradun by Arvind Kumar Pandey. Additional Secretary PS Rawat has been relieved of his charge as Government Estate Officer while his other responsibilities remain intact.
