In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Odisha government has transferred several Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, as per a notification released by the General Administration & Public Grievance (GA&PG) Department on Thursday.
Aradhana Das, who was serving as Special Secretary in the Home Department, has now been appointed as Joint Secretary in the same department. Alongside her, 16 other IAS officers have been designated as Joint Secretaries across various departments, including Forest, Revenue, Water Resources, Energy, Rural Development, and Education.
Among the newly appointed Joint Secretaries are:
- Dharam Hansdah – Forest, Environment & Climate Change
- Rina Mohapatra – Fisheries & Animal Resources
- Lily Kumari Kullu – Revenue & Disaster Management
- Narahari Sethy – Water Resources
- Madhumita Rath – Handloom, Textiles & Handicrafts (also retains charge as MD, Utkalika)
- Debasis Singh – Housing & Urban Development
- Pratap Chandra Hota – Parliamentary Affairs
- Nibedita Mishra – Energy
- Rega Geetarani Patnaik – Rural Development
- Archana Das Pattanaik – Excise
- Anjana Panda – Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare
- Nivedita Prusty – Home Department
- Swayam Prava Mohanty – Women & Child Development
- Sudam Charan Mandal – Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare
- Girish Chandra Singh – School & Mass Education
In a parallel development, several senior officials currently heading director-level or equivalent positions have been granted Joint Secretary status. These include:
- Niyati Pattnaik – Director, Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
- Dr. Maheswar Swain – Director, Panchayati Raj
- Srikanta Tarai – President, Board of Secondary Education, Cuttack
- Birendra Korkora – Director, Secondary Education, Bhubaneswar
- Laxman Kumar Mallick – Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare
- Upama Kalo – Additional Commissioner, Settlement & Consolidation, Sambalpur-II
- Pradeep Kumar Nayak – Additional Commissioner, Additional Revisional Court, Bhubaneswar
- Premjit Nayak – Director, AYUSH, Odisha
- Jugaleswari Dash – Director, OBC, Bhubaneswar
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Meanwhile, District Collectors Kabindra Kumar Sahoo (Deogarh), Madhusudan Dash (Nuapada), and Subrat Kumar Panda (Boudh) will continue in their current roles.
This comprehensive reshuffle is seen as a step towards fortifying governance frameworks and improving service delivery across various sectors in the state.