GANGTOK, 02 May: The State Government effected a substantial bureaucratic reshuffle on Monday with Heads of Departments exchanging places in as many as eleven departments.
In transfer orders issued today, and effective immediately, Additional Chief Secretary, Karma Gyatso, moves from Department of Planning, to take charge as Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner in-charge of Finance, Revenue & Expenditure, while continuing as the Additional CS as well.
The responsibilities at Department of Planning are being taken over by R. Ongmu, who comes over from Finance, Revenue & Expenditure Department.
Tourism & Civil Aviation Department has a new Secretary in N. Yethenpa, who comes in from Cooperation Department which now has AK Chettri as the new Secretary. Mr. Chettri’s responsibilities as Secretary, SPSC, have been charged to Jemima Pradhan, who has been posted as Special Secretary, SPSC and shall hold charge of Secretary SPSC in her own substantive pay. Ms. Pradhan was serving as Special Secretary, HRDD. Meanwhile, the sitting Tourism & CA Secretary, SBS Bhaduria, has been repatriated and posted to his parent department [Forest] in his substantive post in IFS cadre.
R. Telang, Secretary, Human Resource Development Department, proceeds as Secretary, Science & Technology Department, with his responsibilities at HRDD transferred to CS Rao, Director, HRDD, who now holds charge as Secretary, HRDD.
Following the retirement of the incumbent Secretary Pema Wangchen at Energy & Power Department, AK Giri, Principal Chief Engineer, Energy & Power Department, will hold charge of Secretary, Energy & Power Department.
The Information & Public Relations Department has a new Secretary in KS Tobgay who comes on from Department of Planning where he was posted as Special Secretary. He will now hold charge as Secretary, IPR, Printing & Stationary Departments in his own substantive pay.
Similarly, CT Wangdi, Special Secretary, Food & Civil Supplies Department, has been transferred and posted as Special Secretary, Labour Department and will also hold charge as Secretary, Labour Department and Capacity Building in his own substantive pay.
Some transfers have also been directed at the Joint Secretary level with Ganga Pradhan, Joint Secretary, Directorate of Lotteries, transferred and posted as Director, Directorate of Handicraft and Handloom.
Namrata Thapa, Director, DHH, moves on to Sikkim Manipal University on deputation as Registrar, replacing Balaram Subba, who has been repatriated to the State Government and posted as Joint Secretary, Sports & Youth Affairs Department.
The recent spate of transfers and postings in the State administration has become the topic of conversation among quite a few. It seems many in the bureaucracy were aware of things in the offing, i.e. a major reshuffling was on the cards. However, no one was expecting the change that was thrown in by the Government in the top brass of the administration.
ReplyDeleteAccording to many, it was a very positive move of the Chamling Govt. (read Mr Chamling himself) to bring fresh faces at the helm of affairs. One can but admire the vision and also the guts of the man in giving charge to officers in the rank of Special Secretary as Secretary of Govt. departments. Mind you, this move is entirely based on merit and delivery. It is such a welcome change to see that chances (cannot be termed promotions) have been given to deserving and performing individuals instead of the old system of seniority. By doing so, the CM has given a clear message, “perform, deliver or else be relegated to the background”.
What is admirable is that he has moved from the straight-jacketed thinking, which our system is infested with, and moved on with the changing times. I think Mr Chamling should be lauded for this even by his critics as steps such as these would definitely go a long way in making the administration responsible, effective and most importantly people-centric. If you look at the transfers and postings with an unbiased view, you can see that they have been made completely on public interest, devoid of any favouritism or nepotism.
The reshuffling can be called a sequel to the 100 days' tasks assigned to all Govt departments. Tasks have been laid down by the Govt. and now the required “sergeants” to have been posted to carry out their duties. The horse has been taken to the bank and now it has to drink the water!
Once again, kudos to Mr Chamling for his brave and unprecedented decision! You have given merit its due!
Subash Chettri, Dev Area, Gangtok
Hon'ble CM is tired on the performance of government employees numbering more than 35,000 and burdening the Sikkim economy by Rs.892 crores each year as salary packet.Ho transfers them on the hope that thing will change for better. But after few days they also do not fit to his work culture. Why cannoe we relieve 50% of the employees and give chance to 17,500 new youths to take up the challenging job of govering Sikkim better.
ReplyDeleteTo place premium on performance over all else is indeed a welcome move on the part of the government. The government agencies should take a leaf out of corporate books and adopt a non-compromising stand on delivering the goods. Our Hon'ble CM seems to be man on a mission, much like the man he was at the start of his tenure as a CM. He may have gone adrift somewhere in the middle, but it is heartening to see that he is back on track.
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