Chhattisgarh government reshuffles 42 IAS Officers

RAIPUR: The newly elected Congress government in Chhattisgarh effected a major bureaucratic reshuffle on Sunday night involving 42 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, including six district collectors.nnThe administrative reshuffle, wherein some officers who were said to be close to the previous Raman Singh-led BJP government were transferred, took place ahead of Tuesday?s oath taking ceremony of ministers in Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel?s Cabinet.nnThe order of transfer and posting of 42 IAS officers was issued late Sunday night by the General Administration Department GAD), an official said here Monday.nnAccording to the order, the collectors of Bilaspur, Raigarh, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Jashpur and Mahasamund districts have been changed.nnP Dayanand, a 2006-batch IAS officer currently posted as Bilaspur district collector, has been appointed Managing Director Samagra Shiksha and also given additional charge of Director, the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT).nnSanjay Alang, Director of Social Welfare, has been made the new collector of Bilapsur.nnRaigarh collector Shammi Abidi has been transferred as Commissioner of Chhattisgarh Housing Board. Yashwant Kumar, posted as Commissioner Higher Education, will replace Abidi as Raigarh collector, according to the order.nnJashpur collector Priyanka Shukla has been shifted as Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, and she will be replaced by Nilesh Kumar Kshirsagar, who was posted as Mission Director, State Rural Livelihood Mission.nnSimilarly, Dantewada collector Saurabh Kumar has been appointed Joint Secretary at Mantralaya (state secretariat).nnNarayanpur collector Topeshwar Verma has been given charge as Dantewada collector, while Additional Commissioner, Labour Department, Padum Singh Elma will replace Verma as Narayanpur collector.nnMahasamund collector Himshikhar Gupta has been named Commissioner, Higher Education, while Sunil Kumar Jain, currently Registrar of Cooperative Societies, will replace him in Mahasamund.nnSenior bureaucrats like Subodh Kumar Singh and Rajat Kumar, who were said to be close to the previous regime, have also been transferred.nnA 1997 batch IAS officer, Subodh Singh, has been posted as Secretary, Labour Department, with additional charge of Secretary, Commercial Tax (Registration) and as Labour Commissioner.nnHe was holding key portfolios like secretary to chief minister along with additional charge of Managing Director, Chhattisgarh State Power Trading Company, Secretary of Mineral Resources Department, Chairman of Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) and Secretary of Public Works Department.nnRajat Kumar, a 2005 batch IAS, who was special secretary to CM and also held additional charge of Director, Aviation department and Chief Executive Officer of Naya Raipur Development Authority,has been posted as Director, Social Welfare.nnBesides, the government has sent back five Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers ? P C Mishra, Sanjay Shukla, Sudhir Agrawal, V Ramarao and Sanjay Ojha ? who were posted in various departments, to their parent department with immediate effect, the official said.nnSource: Press Trust of India