Bhubaneswar: Senior bureaucrat Asit Kumar Tripathy Monday took charge as the 43rd Chief Secretary of Odisha while his predecessor Aditya Prasad Padhi assumed the office as the State Election Commissioner (SEC).
Padhi handed over the charge to Tripathy in the presence of senior officials and media persons at the Lok Seva Bhawan here. Prior to his appointment as Chief Secretary, Tripathy, a 1986 batch IAS officer, was the Development Commissioner and also in-charge of the Home department apart from being the Chief Administrator for the KBK region.
After taking the charge, Tripathy said he would ensure that government files were cleared expeditiously. The chief secretary said he believed in consuming less time to study a file and expected officers to do the same.
“The personal files of officers moves in a rocket speed. I think if other files will also move on that speed, people will be largely benefited,” he said.
With Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asking the government machinery to work in cohesion by following the 5T (Teamwork, Technology, Transparency, Transformation and Time Limit) mantra to bring about transformation in the state, Tripahy harped on the issue with all seriousness.
“One of my top priorities is to monitor the 5T charters of every department and the achievement. After the launch of online revenue payment by the Chief Minister on the occasion of Independence Day, one can now pay from anywhere in the world. Similarly, other citizen centric services are being rolled out,” he said.
The new chief secretary also said he would give utmost stress on timely implementation of projects and government programmes. “There shouldn’t be delay in the implementation of projects. This will help save a lot of money,” he added.
Meanwhile, taking over charge from Naba Kumar Nayak, Padhi said that he would make efforts not to weigh down the dignity of the State Election Commissioner’s post.
Another senior IAS officer Suresh Mohapatra also took charge as the state Development Commissioner. He said, “It is my major responsibility to properly implement all the plans and programmes for development of all areas and sections of society in view of overall development of Odisha.”
Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra and Industries Secretary Sanjiv Chopra also assumed charge as Agriculture Production Commissioner and Home secretary respectively. Chopra said his focus area would be community policing and to ensure safe environment for all particularly for the women, girl child, elderly and vulnerable sections.