Bhubaneswar: In a minor bureaucratic reshuffle Thursday, the state government appointed 2002 batch IAS officer Krishan Kumar as the Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Cooperation and Special Secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment departments.
Besides, Kumar will continue to hold the post of of vice-chairman of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and remain managing director of Smart City Limited, a General Administration notification said.
In addition to Krishna, 1994 batch IAS Ranjana Chopra has been posted as the Director General of Gopabandhu Academy of Administration.
The appointment of Kumar as Special Secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment department has come in the wake of the government launching the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme to protect the interests of the farmers, official sources said.
Notably, Krishan Kumar has been instrumental in successfully organising the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup, .FEST (Bhubaneswar City Festival) and implementing MO Bus and MO Cycle schemes, apart from several other projects.
Earlier, Shubham Saxena was appointed as Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, replacing Krishan Kumar.