In a significant administrative reorganisation carried out last night, the Punjab government has made transfers involving 64 IAS and PCS officers, which includes the reassignment of Deputy Commissioners in six districts.
Out of the 39 IAS officers who received transfer orders tonight, KAP Sinha has been assigned the additional responsibility of Additional Chief Secretary for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, while continuing to serve as the Additional Chief Secretary for Revenue. Not long ago, Sumer Singh Gurjar was appointed as the Principal Secretary for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, but now he has been reassigned as the Principal Secretary for the Removal of Grievances department.
Apart from Sinha, another officer receiving multiple assignments is Anurag Verma, who will continue his role as the head of the Home Affairs and Justice department, and has also been given important responsibilities in the Industries, Information Technology, and Investment Promotion departments. These departments were previously under the charge of Dilip Kumar, who will now be moving to the NRI Affairs department. The Industries department will also have a new director, Puneet Goyal.
Both Sinha and Verma are considered strong contenders for the position of Chief Secretary, which will become vacant when the current Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua retires in June.
Several officers who had been without any posting for several months have been assigned roles in today’s orders. Ajoy Sharma has been appointed as Secretary in the Local Government department, Tanu Kashyap has become the Secretary for Home Affairs and Justice, and also assumed the additional role of Additional Resident Commissioner in Delhi. Gaggandip Singh Brar has been designated as the Secretary for Freedom Fighters, while Alaknanda Dayal has been appointed as the Secretary for Revenue and Rehabilitation.
Shruti Singh, an officer awaiting posting orders, has been appointed as the Secretary of Revenue and Rehabilitation.
The following six districts will have new deputy commissioners: Vineet Kumar has been transferred from Muktsar to become the DC of Faridkot, exchanging positions with Ruhee Dugg. Baldeep Kaur, the DC of Mansa, has swapped places with Rishi Pal Singh, the DC of Tarn Taran. Amit Talwar is now the DC of Amritsar, while Vishesh Sarangal, the DC of Kapurthala, has been reassigned to Jalandhar. Karnail Singh is the new DC of Kapurthala. Additionally, the Public Relations department has appointed Bhupinder Singh as the new Director.
There have been significant changes in the officers posted in the Education department. Jaspreet Talwar has been replaced by Seema Jain as the Additional Chief Secretary of School Education. However, Talwar will continue to oversee the Higher Education department. Rupanjali Kartik has been assigned as the Special Secretary of School Education, and Churchill Kumar, an IFS officer, has been appointed as the Special Secretary of School Education.