New govt trusts old bureaucrats only for big depts

Jaipur: The first transfer list of top IAS officers was released on Wednesday, 25 days after the formation of the new BJP government in the State. Even though this was a big administrative reshuffle, there was no major shocking change seen in it. In the list of 40 IAS officers, only the earlier heads of two major departments, Home and Finance, were retained. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a direct message regarding bureaucracy to MLAs and party officials at the BJP Headquarters in Jaipur that bureaucrats do not belong to any party, they belong to the government. This impression was visible in this list. Bureaucrats got postings according to their efficiency. However, even after a long brainstorming, the government could not find officers for many important posts and departments. 16 officers in the list were given additional charge.

Being senior to Chief Secretary Sudhansh Pant, Subodh Agarwal has been sent out of the Secretariat by making him the Chairman of Indira Gandhi Panchayat Raj Institute, while Shubhra Singh has been given the additional charge of Medical Education while keeping her current post.

Akhil Arora has been retained as the head of the Finance Department, but the charge of Information Technology and Communications Department was taken from him and given to Aarti Dogra.

Similarly, Anand Kumar will remain the head of the Home and its related departments. The responsibility of the Transport Department was taken from him and handed over to Shreya Guha. All the officers, who were posted as CMO in the former Gehlot government got new postings.

Kuldeep Ranka has been sent to the Social Justice and Empowerment Department and Gaurav Goyal to the Administrative Reforms Department. T Ravikanth, who is also temporarily holding the charge of Principal Secretary to the CM, got the important responsibility of the Urban Development and Housing Department.

Sandesh Nayak has got entry to CMO as Special Secretary.

Many officers, who were handling less important departments till now, have got an increase in their stature in this administrative reshuffle. Among such officers, Sandeep Verma got the responsibility of PWD, Ajitabh Sharma transferred to the Industry Department, Alok Gupta was shifted to Energy, Krishna Kunal got the responsibility of Women and Child Development and Anandhi was sent to the Mines and Petroleum Department.

Besides, Bhanu Prakash Eturu has got the important responsibility of Chairman DISCOMs, Sunil Sharma has got the important responsibility of Commissioner Information and Public Relations Department, Manju Rajpal has been made Commissioner, Jaipur Development Authority and Utsah Chaudhary has been made Commissioner, Jodhpur Development Authority.

One Divisional Commissioner and one Collector have also changed in the list. Posts like RIICO Chairman, Roadways Chairman, Director Local Self Government Dept, Secretary Ayurveda Department, Administrator Board of Secondary Education are left with additional charges.