Sanjay Kumar Biswal Is New Director, Information and Public Relations, Odisha

Sanjay Kumar Biswal, a 2015-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as Director of Information and Public Relations in Odisha, according to a state government order.

The Directorate of Information and Public Relations is the state government's official communication arm, responsible for disseminating government schemes and official announcements and managing the state's relationship with the media. The director's office coordinates advertising, publicity campaigns and information dissemination for every department of the Odisha government.

Biswal belongs to the 2015 batch of the Indian Administrative Service and has served in various administrative postings within the Odisha cadre since joining the service, gaining exposure to the state's district and secretariat-level administration typical of an officer roughly a decade into service.

His appointment as Director, Information and Public Relations comes as part of a wider round of postings and re-postings among IAS officers in the state, reflecting the government's routine practice of rotating officers of the 2014 and 2015 batches through key departmental charges.

The appointment is part of a broader reshuffle in which seven IAS officers in Odisha were assigned new responsibilities around the same time, indicating a coordinated redistribution of departmental charges among officers of similar seniority rather than an isolated transfer.

The Information and Public Relations department will expect Biswal to manage the state's messaging around its flagship welfare and infrastructure programmes, a task that carries added weight ahead of any major public communication push by the state government.

Biswal was posted separately before this appointment, and the order takes effect immediately as per the state government's notification.