Minor reshuffle of State bureaucrats

MUMBAI, Feb 3: As a first instance of reshuffle of top bureaucrats, Chief Minister Narayan Rane today appointed the Dairy Development Sec...

MUMBAI, Feb 3: As a first instance of reshuffle of top bureaucrats, Chief Minister Narayan Rane today appointed the Dairy Development Secretary, Umesh Sarangi, as the Managing Director of the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) – a newly created post.

Since the setting up of the corporation, the post was held by an official of the irrigation department. By and large, officials, who had completed 10 years as Chief Engineer, were appointed for such the coveted posts.

However, in view of the strong criticism of the corporation and charges of corruption against it, Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse had decided to appoint an Indian Administrative Service official for the post, so that he will be able to streamline the functioning of the corporation.

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Khadse’s contention was that at such juncture, when it was the responsibility of the alliance government to impound its quota of water before March 2000, an official was required to gear up the Rs 7000 crore project. “Officials of theirrigation department are competent enough to get the work done in a time-bound period, but we felt that IAS officials will be able to deliver the goods more effectively,” Khadse said.

Accordingly, a Bill to amend the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation Act was amended to provide for the appointment of an IAS official or an outsider. As per the original legislation, only serving or retired officials from the irrigation department were to be chosen for the post.

Initially, the Government was considering to appoint a retired Additional Chief Secretary, Venkatchary, for the post. However, he declined to take up the assignment for personal reasons. Subsequently, Khadse recommended the name of Sarangi, which was accepted by the new Chief Minister.

Similarly, the Government is also considering to appoint IAS officials to head the irrigation development corporations for Vidarbha, Marathwada, Konkan and Tapi valley to speed the work.

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Arun Bongirwar, Additional Chief Secretary to former ChiefMinister Manohar Joshi, has been shifted to the Revenue Department in place of Johny Joseph, while Ajit Warty, Principal Secretary to Joshi, has been appointed in the Revenue Department (Rehabilitation).

Anand Kulkarni, who was private secretary to Union Minister for Forest and Environment Suresh Prabhu, has been appointed Deputy Director General, Yashawantrao Chavan Institute of Administration, Pune, while Sales Tax Commissioner Subodh Kumar is likely to be appointed as Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority in place of Swadhin Shatriya. A senior official said that another round transfers will be effected next week.