BJP government in Odisha appoints new collectors for 20 districts

Bhubaneswar: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the BJP government in Odisha has appointed new collectors for 20 of the 30 districts.

All the bureaucrats, who got new assignments, were earlier appointed during the BJD regime. The BJP came to power in the state in June.

According to a notification issued by the General Administration and Public Grievance Department on Wednesday night, Smruti Ranjan Pradhan, who has been serving as Gajapati collector, has been transferred to Kendrapara.

Parul Patawari, an IAS officer of the 2015 batch, has been appointed as Rayagada collector, while Amrit Ruturaj will take charge as collector of Kandhamal district.

Siddeshwar Baliram Bondar is the new collector of Sambalpur, Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde of Cuttack, Hema Kanta Say of Mayurbhanj, P Anvesha Reddy of Jajpur, Ashish Ishwar Patil of Malkangiri and Somesh Kumar Upadhyay of Dhenkanal.

Dilip Routrai has been appointed as Bhadrak collector, Bijay Kumar Dash has been entrusted with the responsibility of Gajapati as collector.

The other new collectors are Subhankar Mohapatra (Nabarangpur), Suryawanshi Mayur Vikas (Balasore), J Sonal (Jagatsinghpur), Pawar Sachin Prakash (Kalahandi), Akshay Sunil Agrawal (Nayagarh), Manoj Satyawan Mahajan (Sundargarh), Kabindra Kumar Sahu (Deogarh), Madhusudan Dash (Nuapada) and Subrat Kumar Panda (Boudh).

Swadha Dev Singh, an IAS officer of the 2014 batch, has been appointed as additional secretary of Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department.

IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya has been appointed as the director of the Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department. He would also serve as the director of Odisha Paribar.

Ashish Thakare has been transferred as the secretary of the Board of Revenue, Odisha, while Kamal Lochan Mishra is the new executive director of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), Nikhil Pavan Kalyan as the director of Soil Conservation and Watershed Development.