West Bengal Undertakes Major IAS Reshuffle; 18 Officers Given New Postings

The West Bengal government carried out a sweeping reshuffle of its Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre, transferring 18 officers across key departments in one of the more significant bureaucratic reorganisations seen in the state in recent months. Among the prominent transfers, Jagdish Prasad Meena (WB:2004), who was serving as Secretary of the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department with additional charge of Member-Secretary of the Pollution Control Board, has been reassigned as Secretary of the Food and Supplies Department. Ravi Inder Singh (WB:1994), previously Principal Secretary of the Self-Help Group and Self-Employment Department, moves to the same rank in the Transport Department. Other significant postings include Surendra Gupta as PS, Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Department; Saumitra Mohan, who continues as Secretary to the Governor and will additionally oversee the Information and Cultural Affairs Department; and Parwez Ahmad Siddiqui, who is set to join as PS, State Gazetteers. Anoop Kumar Agrawal has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary of the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department as well as the MSME and Textiles Department, while Rajeev Kumar moves to Technical Education, Training and Skill Development as PS. Among the other officers transferred: Moumita Godara Basu takes over as Secretary of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare; Randhir Kumar is Secretary of Public Health Engineering with additional charge of Secretary, Finance; Rajesh Pandey becomes ACS, Youth Services and Sports; R Vimala is Secretary, North Bengal Development; Rachna Bhagat moves to Secretary, Labour; Mukta Arya takes Secretary, Sundarban Affairs. Dushyant Nariala, Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, is given additional charge of Director General, NSATI and Chairman, SNTCSSC. Nandini Chakravorty becomes ACS, Science and Technology and Biotechnology with additional charge of ACS, Housing. Raju Mishra is appointed Excise Commissioner, Rajesh Kumar Sinha takes over as PS, Irrigation and Waterways, and Neelam Meena, serving as Chief Electoral Officer, has been assigned additional charge of PS, Environment Department.