Health, excise, transport: 33 officers transferred in major Delhi bureaucratic rejig

The Delhi government on Thursday carried out a major bureaucratic reshuffle, changing the responsibilities of 22 IAS officers and 11 DANICS officers. Among the key changes, Rupesh Kumar was removed as Health secretary, while Awanish Kumar was moved to the Excise department as the government works on a new excise policy.Rupesh Kumar, a 2006 batch AGMUT cadre officer, will now serve only as chief executive officer of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board. Awanish Kumar, a 2014-batch IAS officer who was serving as director of Technical Training and Higher Education, has been given charge in the Excise department.Rupesh Kumar was removed as Health secretary amid an Anti-Corruption Branch investigation into alleged irregularities in the Health department's procurement of medicines and medical supplies. He had been serving as Health secretary and was not on "good terms" with Health Minister Pankaj Singh.The order also changed the roles of several other officers. Niharika Rai, secretary-cum-commissioner of Transport, who also held additional charge of Secretary (Tourism) and chairman of the Delhi Transport Corporation, will continue as Transport Secretary and DTC chairman but will no longer hold charge of the Tourism department. Mekala Chaitanya Prasad, Special Secretary (Health), has also been given additional charge of Special Secretary, Public Works Department, while Suneel Anchipaka has been divested of the PWD charge.Sanjay Kumar, who was awaiting posting, has been appointed managing director of DSIIDC, with additional charge of Secretary (IT) and OSD (Planning) till the superannuation of Yashpal Garg. After that, he will take over as Secretary (Planning). Ajay Kumar Gupta, Commissioner, Food Safety, has also been given the charges of MD, DTL, chairman of IPGCL/PPCL, CMD of DPCL, and chairman of the Pension Trust, while being divested of the Home charge.In all, the reshuffle changed the responsibilities of 33 officers, with the Delhi government making fresh postings in the Health, Excise, Transport, PWD, Planning, IT and power-related departments.- Ends