Delhi govt reshuffles 42 IAS and DANICS officers shifted or given extra charge

NEW DELHI: Delhi govt effected a major bureaucratic reshuffle in the capital on Friday evening, transferring or giving additional charge to 42 IAS and DANICS officers.The reshuffle was prompted by the Union home ministry's order earlier in the day in which it moved 12 Delhi bureaucrats of UT cadre to other states and transferred the equal number of officers to the capital.Following the order of LG VK Saxena, the services department of Delhi govt issued an order giving additional charge of environment and forest department of additional chief secretary (industries) Bipul Pathak, a 1992-batch IAS officer and the senior most bureaucrat in the city. Pathak replaced Anil Kumar Singh, who was moved to Jammu and Kashmir by MHA. Prashant Goyal was transferred to the urban development department as additional chief secretary from the transport department while Navin Kumar Chaudhary, the additional chief secretary of irrigation and flood control department, was given the additional charge of public works department.A Anbarasu was moved from PWD to the services department, while he will remain the principal secretary of home department.Nikhil Kumar was given the charge of health and family welfare and information and publicity department, while Neeraj Semwal was made divisional commissioner, with additional responsibility of information and publicity department.Sources said the bureaucratic rejig was imminent after BJP formed govt in Delhi in Feb, and was triggered by transfers and postings of IAS officers by MHA.The top bureaucrats who were transferred out included additional chief secretary (finance) Ashish Chandra Verma, additional chief secretary (environment and forest) Anil Kumar Singh, principal secretary (vigilance) Sudhir Kumar and health secretary SB Deepak Kumar. MHA has also transferred DTC's managing director Sachin Shinde, social welfare secretary Vinod Kavle, women and child development secretary Chanchal Yadav, and secretary (home) Krishna Mohan Uppu.Several mid-level and junior IAS officers have also been transferred from Delhi to other states.According to the order, the officers who been transferred to Delhi include Dilraj Kaur from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Pandurang K Pole and Vijay Kumar Bidhuri from Jammu and Kashmir, Ramesh Verma and Arun Kumar Mishra from Goa, A Nedunchezhiyan form Puducherry, and Krishna Kumar Singh from Arunachal Pradesh, among others. While 12 officers have been transferred from Delhi to other states, the same number of officers are being brought to the capital.However, the names of the officers transferred to Delhi did not figure in the list of 42 officers given new responsibilities by Delhi govt. "This means another round of transfers and postings will take place soon," said an official.