17 IAS Officers Get New Assignments in Himachal Pradesh

The Himachal Pradesh government has issued new assignments for 17 IAS officers in a wide-ranging reshuffle touching departments from transport and health to tourism and industries.

The order covers postings at the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Principal Secretary and Secretary levels, the senior-most tiers of the state secretariat that head departmental policy and coordinate with district administrations across Himachal Pradesh.

Onkar Chand Sharma, ACS, Tribal Development and Ropeways and Road Transport System Development Corporation, has been given additional charge of ACS, Transport Department. M Sudha Devi takes charge as Principal Secretary, Forests and Industries, in addition to her role as Principal Secretary, Personnel Department. R D Nazeem moves to ACS, Home, Vigilance, Power, Non-Conventional Energy and Multi-Purpose Projects.

Ashish Singhmar, Secretary to the Chief Minister (II), has been assigned additional charge of the Health and Family Welfare Department. Devesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Finance, gets additional charge of the Animal Husbandry Department. Priyanka Basu Ingty takes on additional charge of Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. Yunus, Director, Industries, will additionally hold charge of Commissioner, State Taxes and Excise.

Sandeep Kumar has been posted as Secretary, Tourism and Civil Aviation, with Rakesh Kumar Prajapati joining as Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Dr Madhu Chaudhary has been appointed Special Secretary, Health, with additional charge of Chief Executive Officer, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.

Among other postings, Om Kant Thakur becomes Director-cum-Warden of Fisheries, Bilaspur; Abhishek Kumar Garg becomes Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Project Director, Hamirpur; and Gursimar Singh takes charge as Managing Director, State Industrial Development Corporation and General Industries Corporation, Shimla, alongside a separate additional charge as Director, Technical Education, Sundernagar, and MD, Skill Development Corporation, Sundernagar.

Vivek Chandel has been posted as Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Baddi, Solan, while Ashwani Kumar Sharma takes over as Commissioner, State Taxes and Excise.

The scale of the reshuffle, spanning tribal development, transport, health, tourism, industries and municipal administration, points to a broad-based reordering of the Himachal Pradesh secretariat rather than a change confined to a single department.

The order was issued by the Himachal Pradesh government and takes effect immediately.