Bhubaneswar: Affecting a minor administrative reshuffle, the state government Friday transferred nine senior IAS officers.
As per a notification issued by the General Administration department, 1989 batch IAS officer and Water Resources (WR) secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena has been appointed as Rural Development secretary. He will also hold additional charge of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) and MD of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA). WR special secretary Vishal Gagan will now hold additional charge as WR secretary. Another 1989 batch officer, Mona Sharma is the new Forest and Environment secretary. Sharma was serving as RD secretary and holding additional charge as Forest and Environment secretary.
Industries secretary Sanjeev Chopra has been transferred as Home secretary and will hold additional charge of GA department, while Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment secretary Saurabh Garg has been given additional charge of CMD, Gridco & Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL), and CEO of Odisha Coal & Power Ltd (OCPL).
Hemant Sharma, the present Energy secretary, has been posted as new Industries secretary. He will also hold additional charge of MSME secretary and CMD of Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL).
Similarly, SRC Bishnupada Sethi has been posted as Energy secretary and given additional charge of CMD of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC). Chithra Arumugam, a 1995 batch IAS officer, will be the new School and Mass Education secretary. Social Welfare director Aravind Agrawal will also hold additional charge of GA additional secretary.
