Nitish shuffles babus, brings in his men
SHAKE UP In all, 26 IAS officers & 3 IPS officers shifted; Manjhi favourites moved from key departments
PATNA: Barely two days after chief minister Nitish Kumar took over the reins of Bihar, a major bureaucratic reshuffle was carried out on Tuesday, mostly on predictable lines.
Though the new government took care to ensure that not all officers of the erstwhile Manjhi regime were ignored, they were moved from ‘key’ departments. In all, 26 senior IAS officers and three IPS officers were shifted.
Home secretary Sudhir Kumar, brought in by Manjhi in place of Amir Subhani, was removed after a brief stint. He will now be the principal secretary, agriculture department.
Subhani has got back the home department in addition to general administration and minority welfare. Amrit Lal Meena, principal secretary to Manjhi, has been moved to the urban development department to make way for DS Gangwar, who will now be Nitish’s principal secretary. Chanchal Kumar is back as secretary to the CM while Atish Chandra stays in the same capacity.
Arun Kumar Singh, principal secretary, science and technology, has been transferred to the road construction department with additional charge of parliamentary Home secretary Sudhir Kumar appointed principal secretary, agriculture department
Amrit Lal Meena, principal secretary to Manjhi was moved to the urban development dept DS Gangwar will now be principal secretary to Kumar
Arun Kumar Singh, principal secretary, science and technology, transferred to the road construction department with additional charge of parliamentary affairs B Rajender, secretary, urban development department, and Palka Sahni, MD, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, have been relieved for central deputation.
affairs. He will also hold additional charge of science and technology department as also MD of the State Road Development Corporation.
Harjot Kaur, who was sent as Singh’s replacement, has been appointed principal secretary, tourism. B Rajender, secretary, urban development department, and Palka Sahni, MD, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, have both been relieved for central deputation.
Meanwhile, Kumar slammed the recommendations of the 14th finance commission to enhance grants by 10% to 42%, saying states like Bihar would not be benefited to the extent as claimed by the Centre.
Seeking a revision, he also criticised the Centre for contending that Bihar did not need special category status.
KUMAR ALSO HIT OUT AT THE CENTRE FOR CONTENDING THAT BIHAR DID NOT NEED SPECIAL CATEGORY STATUS