Major administrative reshuffle in Bengal; 17 IAS officers transferred
Kolkata, May 22
The new Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled West Bengal government has carried out a major bureaucratic reshuffle in the state, transferring as many as 17 Indian Administrative Service officers at one go.
As per the order issued by the state Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department, a copy of which is available with IANS, the 17 transferred IAS officers include departmental secretaries, municipal commissioners and additional district magistrates.
Sources in the state secretariat at Nabanna said the transfers have been ordered to add pace to the general administrative functioning and to strengthen district-level administrative activities.
As per the notification, Sujoy Sarkar, a 2010-batch IAS officer, has been transferred from the Commissioner of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and posted as the Commissioner of the state Textiles & Sericulture Department and the managing director of state-run entity, Tantuja.
Sarkar has been replaced by Ravi Agarwal, a 2017-batch IAS officer who was currently posted as the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of tribal-dominated Purulia district.
Similarly, Hindole Dutta, a 2014-batch IAS officer who had been serving as an associate professor in Netaji Subhash Administrative Training Institute, has been made the new Commissioner of Asansol Municipal Corporation.
The current Chief Executive Officer of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, Nitin Singhani, a 2013-batch IAS officer, has been transferred as the senior special secretary to the state home and hill affairs secretary, with additional charges of member secretary of the Centre of Excellence in Public Management as well as the course director of Satyendranath Tagore Civil Services Study Centre.
The ADM of Malda, Shaikh Ansar Ahmad, a 2016-batch IAS officer, has been transferred as the Additional District Magistrate of West Midnapore.
The 2013-batch IAS officer, Rajat Nanda, has been given additional charge of joint secretary, cabinet secretariat and director of the state information and cultural affairs department in addition to his current charge with the personnel & administrative reforms department.
The 2016 batch IAS, Dhiman Barai, has been transferred from the post of additional district magistrate of East Burdwan and posted as special secretary to the state Department of Technical Education, Training & Skill Development
On the other hand, Priyadarshini S., a 2017-batch IAS officer currently serving as an ADM of Howrah, has been transferred and posted as special secretary to the state Consumer Affairs Department.
South 24 Parganas ADM Prashant Raj Shukla, a 2017-batch IAS officer, has been sent to Bankura as the ADM. The North Dinajpur Additional District Magistrate Suman Saurabh Mohanti, also a 2017-batch IAS officer, has been sent to West Burdwan in the same rank.
Similarly, Rajesh, also a 2017- batch IAS officer, has been transferred from the position of additional district magistrate of South Dinajpur to the position of ADM of Jalpaiguri.
The 2018-batch IAS officer, Lakshmana Perumal R. from Bankura, has been transferred as ADM of Jhargram.
Jalpaiguri's ADM Sinjan Shekhar, also a 2018-batch IAS officer, has been sent to Howrah in the same rank, and Nadia ADM Archana P. Wankhede, a 2019-batch IAS officer, has been sent to East Midnapore in the same rank.
Manjeet Kumar Yadav has been transferred from Bankura to South 24 Parganas, Saurav Pandey from North Dinajpur to West Midnapore and Ekam J. Singh from West Midnapore to Bankura. All three are 2020-batch IAS officers, and in the rank of ADMs.
— IANS
Reader Comments
I hope this isn't just political reshuffling. 17 IAS officers transferred at once seems drastic. What about continuity in ongoing projects? Need to ensure stability while weeding out corrupt elements.
Pure politics masquerading as administration! These are loyalists being rewarded or opponents being sidelined. The real test is whether this improves services for common people like us. I'll believe it when potholes get filled and ration shops work properly 😒
Standard practice for any new government. I've seen this in UP, Gujarat, every state. Officers close to previous regime get transferred to less sensitive posts. What matters is efficiency - hope these new ADMs and secretaries deliver better results for Bengal's development.
Just saw Tantuja getting a new MD. Hope that state-run textile brand revives - it has great potential but was mismanaged for years. Sujoy Sarkar is a good officer, let's see if Ravi Agarwal can do better in Bidhannagar.
As a taxpayer in Bengaluru watching this from outside, I find it interesting. But key question - will this affect delivery of central schemes? Many of these districts have MGNREGA and PMAY projects running. Hope officers don't change so often that files get stuck.
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