Bhubaneswar: In a minor reshuffle ahead of the general elections, the state government Saturday transferred five Collectors.
According to a notification issued by the General Administration Department, Angul Collector Anil Kumar Samal has been appointed as Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC)-Cuttack while BDA secretary Manoj Kumar Mohanty has been posted in place of Samal.
Jharsuguda Collector Bibhuti Bhusan Patnaik is the new tourism director and Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) additional secretary Bibhuti Bhusan Das has given the charge of Jharsuguda.
Similarly, Jagatsinghpur Collector Yamini Sarangi, a 2008-batch IAS officer, has been posted in the H&FW as joint secretary whereas Rayagada Collector Guha Poonam Tapas Das has been posted as new Collector of Jagatsinghpur. Senior OAS officer Pramod Kumar Behera is the new Rayagada Collector.
Besides, the government transferred Sambalpur Collector Samarth Verma as Bhubaneswar Municipal Commissioner (BMC) commissioner while present BMC commissioner Shubham Saxena has been posted in place of Verma.
Sources said the government has transferred the Collectors as many of them have completed three years in the same district during the past four years. Election Commission of India has recently instructed all states in this regard.
The decision follows the consistent policy of the Commission that officers directly connected with conduct of elections in poll-bound state or union territory are not posted in their home districts or places where they have served for considerably long period.