Darjeeling and other DMs transferred

SNS, Kolkata, 6 August 2013: The Darjeeling district magistrate has been transferred today even as the bandh called by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha for a separate state of Gorkhaland entered its fourth day. 

Mr Soumitra Mohan, DM Darjeeling, has been transferred to Burdwan. He has been replaced by Mr Puneet Yadav, secretary of finance department.  This is considered an important move at a time when the indefinite bandh has paralysed life in the Hills. State Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee and senior police officers left for Darjeeling yesterday to take stock of the law and order situation there and a series of high-level meetings were held with police and district administration officials today. 

Meanwhile, Ms Nandini Chatterjee, the information and cultural affairs secretary who had been appointed the editor of the West Bengal State Gazetter ~ a post which had till then been held by a WBCS officer ~ has finally been appointed the Sunderban affairs secretary. 

Mr Ashis Thakur, secretary of Transport Department, has been appointed food processing industries and horticulture secretary. In a major reshuffle after the panchayat elections, the state government today issued a notification for transferring a total of 23 officers of the IAS cadre. Howrah DM Mr Santanu Basu has been transferred to South 24-Parganas. He will be replaced by Mr Subhanjan Das. 

Mr G A Ansari, Purulia DM, has been appointed as the DM of West Midnapore. Mr Surendra Gupta, DM of East Midnapore, has been appointed as CEO of KMDA and Ms Smaraki Mahapatra has been appointed as excise commissioner. Mr Tanmoy Chakraborti has been appointed Purulia district magistrate, Mr Ratnakar Rao will be Murshidabad DM, Mrs Pritha Sarkar will be Jalpaiguri DM, Mr Tapas Chowdhury will be DM, South Dinajpur, and Ms Antara Acharya will be East Midnapore DM. Mr Narayan Nigam Swarup has been appointed managing director of WBSEDCL. 

Mr Deb Kumar Chakraborty has been transferred to the Finance Department, Mr Rajeev Kumar to Animal Resource Development, Mr Anurag Shrivastava to finance, Mr Rajesh Pandey to sports, Mr Onkar Singh Meena to health and Mr P A Siddiqui to Minority Affairs Department.