48 officers transferred in major administrative rejig

DEHRADUN: In a significant bureaucratic reshuffle that the state government said was aimed at improving governance and yielding better results on different development fronts ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the Uttarakhand government on Wednesday transferred 31 Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officers, seven IAS officers and ten IPS officers with immediate effect.
The move follows the Election Commission’s directive to the state government to shift those officers who had been at their posts for more than three years.The EC had also asked the government to set the deadline of September 20 to initiate the transfers.
Joint secretary (personnel) Attar Singh said while Udham Singh Nagar, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh are among the districts that have got new district magistrates, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar have also got new senior superintendents of police.
Singh said while IAS officer Chandresh Kumar Yadav who was serving as additional secretary (administration) in the secretariat was shifted to Udham Singh Nagar as its new district magistrate (DM), another IAS officer, Sushil Kumar, who had been serving as additional secretary (panchayati raj and medical education) for some time was transferred to Bageshwar as DM. Pithoragarh DM Hari Chand Semwal was shifted to state social welfare department and other related departments as additional secretary; Bageshwar DM Bhupal Singh Manral is now Dehradun Municipal Corporation’s maha nagar adhikari (MNA).
IAS officer Nitin Singh Bhadoria, additional secretary (urban development and other related departments), was shifted to Pithoragarh as its DM; Jyoti Neeraj Kherwal, additional secretary (revenue, power, energy and personnel) was made managing director (multipurpose finance development corporation). Meanwhile, PCS officer Swati S Bhadoria, who was serving as Dehradun deputy collector, was made chief executive officer (border area development programme) in Pithoragarh.
The 31 PCS officers transferred include Pauri deputy collector (DC) Anil Garbiyal, who will now be Haridwar DC; Pauri DC Rajja Abbas who is now Almora DC; Pauri DC Gopal Ram who is also Almora DC; Uttarkashi DC Raj Kumar Pandey who is now Pithoragarh DC; Uttarkashi DC Vijay Nath Shukla who is now Pithoragarh DC; Tehri DC Brijesh Tiwari who is now Dehradun DC; Tehri DC Deependra Singh who is now Dehradun DC and Dehradun DC Narain Singh Dangi, who is yet to be given his new posting.
Chief secretary Shatrughana Singh said most of these IAS,IPS and PCS officers will be relieved of their current responsibilities within the next week to allow them to take new charge in other districts. “We have effected bureaucratic reshuffle in a big way to allow most of the good officers to work in other places in a bid to yield better results,” Singh added.