Major bureaucratic reshuffle in Chhattisgarh; 14 IAS officers transferred

Raipur, Sep 30 (IANS) In a significant administrative overhaul, the Chhattisgarh government issued transfer orders for 14 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers on Tuesday, shortly after the appointment of IAS Vikas Sheel as the state’s new Chief Secretary.

The reshuffle reflects a strategic reorganisation of key departments and leadership roles across the state bureaucracy. Vikas Sheel, a 1994-batch IAS officer, officially assumed charge as the 13th Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh at Mahanadi Bhawan, succeeding Amitabh Jain, who retired on September 30.

Sheel previously served as Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank in Manila and has held pivotal roles in both state and central governments. His past assignments include Collector of Korea, Bilaspur, and Raipur, and Secretary of departments such as School Education, Food and Civil Supplies, General Administration, and Health.

From 2018, he was on central deputation, serving as Mission Director of the Jal Jeevan Mission and in the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Among the key changes, senior IAS officers Renu Pillai and Subrata Sahu have been relieved of their secretarial duties. Pillai has been appointed Chairman of Vyapam and given additional charge of the Board of Secondary Education.

Sahu, now retired, has been named temporary Director General of the Chhattisgarh Academy of Administration and Chairman of the Revenue Board.

Dr Rohit Yadav has been entrusted with multiple responsibilities, including Secretary of the Energy Department, Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL), Chairman of CSPDCL, and Secretary of the Tourism, Culture, and Public Relations Departments.

Mukesh Bansal has been given additional charge of Aviation, while Dr Ravi Mittal, Public Relations Commissioner, has been appointed Director of Aviation.

IAS officer Jitender has been posted as the new Collector of Rajnandgaon district. Sonmani Bora took charge as Principal Secretary of the Tribal Development, Scheduled Caste Development, Backward Classes and Minority Development Departments, along with additional responsibility for Science and Technology.

Avinash Champawat has been appointed Secretary of the General Administration Department and given additional charge of Public Grievance Redressal department. He will also take additional responsibility for the Religious Trusts and Endowments Departments.

Lokesh Kumar, deputy secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management department, has been entrusted with the charges of the labour department. Similarly, Pahare Abhijit Baban, who is the additional collector of Durg, has now been transferred to take over charges as chief executive officer (CEO), while Fariha Alalm (2016 batch) has been entrusted with the additional responsibility of the school department as joint secretary.

Also, Bhuvnesh Yadav (2006) has been given additional responsibility of secretary planning, the economic and statistical department and the twenty-point programme implementation. Similarly, Kuldeep Sharma (2014 batch) has been given additional charge as managing director of Chhattisgarh State Warehousing Corporation.

--IANS

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