Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, as per an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Tuesday.
Mr. Ram, a 2008 batch IAS officer, who has been guiding the Pune administration through the COVID-19 crisis, has been selected for his new appointment under the Central Staffing Scheme for a period of four years from the date of taking charge.
As per the DoPT order which has been addressed to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary, he has been asked to join in his new capacity within three weeks of the issuance of the order.
According to sources in the administration, Ahmednagar District Collector Rahul Dwivedi, Aurangabad District Collector Uday Chaudhary and Commissioner, Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pavneet Kaur are among the likely candidates to take over as Pune District Collector.
Mr. Ram had earlier served as District Collector of Beed and Aurangabad before taking over the Pune district administration from Saurabh Rao in April 2018.
Known for his accessibility, dynamic decision-making and imperturbable disposition, Mr. Ram has been helming Pune’s administration at a particularly eventful period which saw the district grapple with severe floods last year and then the CIVUD-19 pandemic.
With Pune among the worst-hit districts in the country, Mr. Ram has been instrumental in overseeing the speedy ramping up of the medical infrastructure in the district’s rural parts.
However, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March, Pune has seen major bureaucratic changes, beginning with the transfer of Pune Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad (who took over as Sugar Commissioner), the retirement of Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr. Deepak Mhaisekar, and now the transfer of Mr. Ram to the PMO.
