In a major administrative reshuffle, the Punjab government on Saturday shifted 16 IAS and 15 PCS officers.
As per the orders, Sanjay Kumar will now be additional chief secretary, local government, in place of A Venu Prasad, who will now be secretary, water resources. He replaces Sarvjit Singh.
Prasad, it is learnt, had some differences with local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra after a controversy over transfers of over 200 officials of the department when Mohindra was admitted to a hospital for a few days. Mohindra took up the issue with chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. Mohindra, it is learnt, was batting for Sanjay Kumar for long.
Sarvjit Singh will now be secretary, housing and urban development. Vikas Pratap will now be secretary, PWD, in place of Husan Lal, who will now be secretary, tourism and cultural affairs, with an additional charge of sports and youth affairs department
Rahul Bhandari, secretary NRI affairs, who was holding additional charge of home affairs, justice and jails, will also hold the charge of secretary, higher education and languages, relieving Anurag Verma of this additional charge.
Nilkanth S Avhad, has been posted as MD, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, in place of Abhinav Tarikha, who will now be director, treasury and accounts.
Dilraj Singh has been transferred as a special secretary, school education, whereas Praveen Thind will now be labour commissioner in place of Vimal Setia. Setia has been posted as director, technical education.
Kapurthala deputy commissioner DPS Kharbanda will now be director, rural development and Panchayati raj. Deepti Uppal has been posted as Kaputhala DC, whereas Shena Aggarwal, available for posting, has been transferred as chief administrator, Jalandhar Development Authority.
