Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s office on the fifth floor of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Annexe Bhawan here will now have two additional Cabinet Secretaries. This follows the administrative reshuffle effected by the Chief Minister on Saturday with several senior IAS officers given fresh postings.
Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj, R.K. Sharma, is the new Agriculture Production Commissioner. He replaces V.K. Sharma, who has been made chairman of Pradeshiya Industrial Investment Corporation of UP (PICUP). Mr. R.K. Sharma’s name figured in the Taj Heritage Corridor controversy when he was the Principal Secretary in the Environment Department.
Net Ram, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, will be the additional Cabinet Secretary –II in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, but will continue to hold charge as Principal Secretary, Excise, Sugar Industry and Cane Development.
Vijay Shankar Pandey, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, is already holding the charge of additional Cabinet Secretary –I. He is also the Principal Secretary, Information and Public Relations.
Following the reshuffle, Mr. Pandey was given the additional charge of Principal Secretary, Vocational Education by the Chief Minister. As the department is with Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Pandey will report directly to her.
However, all the files would be routed now to Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh through Mr. Ram. Earlier, the files were routed through Mr. Pandey.
Two officers of the rank of Principal Secretary were appointed as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. They are: the Principal Secretary, Food and Drugs, D.P. Mishra, and Principal Secretary, Revenue, Raj Pratap Singh. Mr. Singh replaces Shailesh Krishna, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. Mr. Krishna has been shunted out to the Revenue Department.
Principal Secretary, General Administration and Administrative Reforms, K.K. Sinha, was appointed as the Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Agricultural Education.
The Secretaries of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) and the Agra Development Authority have also been moved. While LDA Secretary Mani Prasad Mishra has been transferred to the office of Agriculture Production Commissioner, ADA Secretary Vinay Shankar Pandey has been shifted to Mandi Parishad. Mr. Pandey is the brother of additional Cabinet Cecretary – I, Vijay Shankar Pandey.
