Major reshuffle of 19 IAS officers

Vijayawada : As part of the cleansing the administration, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday transferred 19 IAS officers. Of them, four have been asked to report to the General Administration Department as they are alleged to have acted as per the diktats of the previous YSRCP government violating the rules.

Y Srilakshmi, Special Chief Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, is said to have acted as per the directions of the Jagan government regarding the damage caused to Amaravati. This transfer assumes importance as it comes on the eve of Naidu’s visit to Amaravati.

It may be recalled that when she tried to give a bouquet to the Chief Minister and later to Narayana after they assumed charge, both refused to accept it and Narayana even refused to sign the file she had brought for signature. Anil Kumar Singhal replaces Srilakshmi.

Another key bureaucrat, Praveen Prakash, was transferred and directed to report to the GAD. He has been facing allegations of harassing teachers and is also alleged to have insulted the teachers on several occasions. He was an important officer in the YSRCP government.

Another IAS officer T Muralidhar Reddy will also report to the GAD since he was the one who did not implement the ECI orders to ensure that the pensions for old and disabled were paid at their doorstep with the help of government employees and not volunteers appointed by the YSRCP. Instead, he forced the pensioners to collect the pension from banks where the beneficiaries had to go repeatedly due to non-availability of adequate funds. Rajat Bhargava, Special Secretary, Revenue department, was also transferred and directed to report to the GAD. Sometime back, the High Court had issued arrest warrant against him for dereliction of duty.

The TDP government picked up IAS officer Pradyumna as the Secretary to the CM. He was among the core team in the TDP government between 2014 to 2019.

Since the AP government is laying special focus on the Irrigation, particularly in view of the Polavaram project and other pending projects, it has posted senior IAS officer G Sai Prasad, Chief Commissioner of Land Administration in the Water Resources Department.

Other transfers include Shashi Bhushan Kumar who has been posted as Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development. This department comes under the portfolio of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan.

Gopalakrishna Dwivedi is posted as Special Chief Secretary, Labour, Factories, Boilers and Insurance Medical Services department. Budithi Rajsekhar waiting for posting is posted as Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Sericulture, Cooperation and Marketing Sidharth Jain was posted as Commissioner, Civil Supplies. S Aurabh Gaur, Commissioner, Intermediate Education, was transferred and posted as Secretary, Higher Education, relieving Pola Bhaskar. Kona Sashidhar is posted as Secretary, School Education. A Babu was posted as Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation.

Bhaskar Kantamneni is transferred and posted as Commissioner, APCRDA. Janaki is posted as Secretary Finance department. MM Nayak was posted as Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development. Pravin Kuar is posted as Commissioner, Mines and Geology. Vadarevu Vinay Chand is posted as secretary, Finance Department.