30-04-2025
Upset with poor performance, Revanth shakes up the CMO
Hyderabad:
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy
took up the first rejig in the chief minister's office (CMO) on Wednesday. Sources in the govt said that CM A Revanth Reddy was not happy with the performance of some officers. These officers are expected to be shunted out of the CMO and new officers will be inducted.
Retired IAS officer KS Sreenivasa Raju
, who is currently an advisor to the state govt on infrastructure and projects, has been appointed as principal secretary in the CMO. Raju, a 1999 batch officer from Andhra Pradesh, took voluntary retirement last year and was appointed as advisor to the govt on infrastructure and projects. Prior to that, he was on deputation for two years as secretary to the roads and buildings (R&B) department in the BRS govt.
He is the second principal secretary in the CMO to be appointed after his retirement. At present, V Seshadri is the principal secretary in the CMO. The govt is likely to divide the subjects between the two principal secretaries.
Official sources said that appointing a retired officer as principal secretary is not new and is being practised in various states across the country.
"In the BRS govt, retired IAS officer S Narsinga Rao was appointed as principal secretary to the CM by KCR in 2014 and continued till 2023. Orders are generally issued by the chief secretary and the secretaries of the respective departments on the instructions of the CMO, and the officers in the CMO act as a bridge between the officers and the CMO," an official of the general administration department (GAD) said.
Shahnawaz Qasim, an IPS officer and secretary in the CMO, has been transferred and posted as director general of the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) after the retirement of VB Kamalasan Reddy. Similarly, the name of another principal secretary in CMO and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer G Chandrasekhar Reddy has been cleared as chief information commissioner (CIO) and the orders are expected in a day or two.
The CMO's joint secretary, Sangeetha Satyanarayana, has already been transferred from the CMO to become the director of health and also the chief executive officer of the Aarogyasri trust.
The CM reportedly realised that some projects, especially in Greater Hyderabad and Future City, were not moving forward due to a lack of coordination between the departments and the CMO. Some senior officers said that some junior officers lacked experience in the field and could not deliver as per the CM's expectations. Realising this, special chief secretary cadre officer Jayesh Ranjan has been appointed as the chief executive officer of the industry and investment cell in the CMO and for Speed Proactive Efficient and Effective Delivery (SPEED) to boost the flagship programmes, official sources said.
