Nearly a month after assuming charge, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Wednesday effected changes in the top bureaucracy, with two bureaucrats considered influential in the previous BJD government being transferred.
G Mathivathanan, who was serving as the secretary of housing and urban development secretary for over 11 years, has been transferred as director general of Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, which imparts training to Odisha Administrative Service officers. Sports secretary R Vineel Krishna, who was serving as special secretary in the chief minister’s office, has been posted as commissioner, land records and settlement.
As sports was one of the major focus areas of the erstwhile Naveen Patnaik government, Vineel wielded power to implement major projects such as the hockey stadium in Rourkela.
Both Mathivathanan, who hails from Tamil Nadu, and Vineel, a native of Andhra Pradesh, were also considered close to VK Pandian, Patnaik’s former private secretary.
Usha Padhee replaced Mathivathanan as part of the reshuffle, while Bhaskar Jyoti Sharma succeeded Vineel as new sports secretary of the state.
While the BJP government is scheduled to table its first budget in the state assembly on July 25, it has transferred finance secretary Vishal Dev to the electronics and IT department. Senior bureaucrat Saswat Mishra, who has been serving as secretary to the governor, has been given additional charge of the finance department along with the energy department. Mishra also holds additional charge as chairman of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission.
Nikunja Bihari Dhal, who was recently appointed as the additional chief secretary to chief minister Majhi, got another crucial assignment as chairman of the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, which deals with land allotment to industries.
In the previous government, industries secretary Hemant Sharma was posted as chairman of the corporation. Sharma would continue as industries secretary in the new government, while also getting additional charge of micro, small and medium enterprises department.
Senior bureaucrat Surendra Kumar has been given additional responsibility of parliamentary affairs department, a position held by Mathivathanan for years.
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