Karnataka Moves 16 IAS Officers: Sivakumar KB to Run KSRTC, Raghunandan Murthy Takes Over BMTC as Shivakumar Government Refocuses Transport Leadership

The D K Shivakumar-led Karnataka government reshuffled 16 IAS officers on Thursday in an order that puts the spotlight firmly on the state's two public transport giants. Sivakumar KB has been posted as Managing Director of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), while Raghunandan Murthy moves into the MD's chair at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Transport Corporation (BMTC). The twin transport posting is not coincidental. Both KSRTC and BMTC are in the middle of simultaneous crises: persistent financial losses, an ageing diesel fleet, driver shortages and a government mandate to rapidly scale up electric bus operations. The Shivakumar administration has committed to deploying thousands of electric buses across both networks under the Centre's PM e-Bus Sewa scheme — an ambitious target that demands administrative capability at the very top of both corporations and close coordination with the power distribution companies supplying charging infrastructure. Sivakumar KB brings experience in infrastructure and public systems management to KSRTC, which runs roughly 8,000 buses across Karnataka's cities and rural belt. The corporation's revenue model has been strained by free travel schemes for women and other categories — popular politically but expensive operationally. Sivakumar will need to find a balance between social mandates and commercial sustainability while simultaneously overseeing the procurement and induction of electric vehicles into a fleet built around diesel mechanics and fuelling infrastructure. The transition also requires retraining the existing driver and maintenance workforce for electric systems — a people management challenge as much as a technical one. Raghunandan Murthy takes on BMTC — a more compact operation than KSRTC but arguably more politically visible since it serves Bengaluru, where commuters are vocal, tech-literate and quick to amplify service failures on social media. BMTC has been working to integrate its services with the Namma Metro network and to reduce the city's private vehicle load through better last-mile connectivity. The MD's job at BMTC is as much about rebuilding commuter confidence as it is about operational management. Beyond the transport appointments, the 16-officer reshuffle covers the Industries and Commerce Department, Revenue administration, Social Welfare and several district-level postings. Officers have been moved both into and out of the state secretariat in what officials described as a mid-year alignment exercise. Karnataka has been among the more active states in terms of IAS rotation under the Shivakumar government, which has consistently used transfers to place loyalists in key delivery departments while also bringing in officers with specific technical competence for mission-critical public service roles.