The Odisha Government made significant changes in the senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre officers across key departments. Deoranjan Kumar Singh, a senior IAS officer and Development Commissioner, has been appointed as Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) to the Steel and Mines department. Surendra Kumar, who held the post of ACS to the Steel and Mines Department, is now the ACS to the General Administration and Public Grievance (GA&PG) Department. Bishnupada Sethi, a 1995-batch IAS officer, has been assigned as the Chairman of Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC).
Chithra Arumugam, the ACS of Labour and ESI Department, has been given additional responsibilities as the Director General of Training Coordination at Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, Bhubaneswar. Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, ACS of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Department, now serves as ACS to the Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) Department. Usha Padhee, a 1996-batch IAS officer, remains in charge of the Housing and Urban Development Department and takes on the role of Chairperson at Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).
The state government also announced the termination of certain additional appointments to facilitate these changes and reshuffled senior bureaucrats across various departments.
