Bhubaneswar: The Mohan Majhi government on Wednesday appointed senior IAS officer Anu Garg as the next Chief Secretary of Odisha.
Garg will succeed Manoj Ahuja, who is due to retire on December 31 after an extension of one year. “She is appointed as Chief Secretary, Odisha and Secretary to Government, General Administration and Public Grievance Department vice Shri Manoj Ahuja, IAS retiring on 31 -12.2025,” the official notification said.
She will be the first woman IAS officer to be elevated to senior-most cadre post in the state administration.
Know about the 1991-batch officer
Garg is currently serving as Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary in the Planning and Convergence Department, along with the additional responsibility of Additional Chief Secretary in the Water Resources Department.
As Additional Chief Secretary for Water Resources, she has spearheaded efforts to complete long-pending projects, initiate new ones, enhance water use efficiency and conservation, and promote the integration of IT alongside community participation in water management.
Prior to her present assignment, she served as Principal Secretary in the Departments of Labour and ESI, as well as Women & Child Development. She also held various positions in central government ministries, including Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Textiles, Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Additionally, she was Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Health & Family Welfare Department in Odisha from 2008 to 2012.
From 1992 to 2003, Garg also held several important district-level assignments, including District Collector and District Magistrate of Sambalpur and Bargarh, as well as Additional District Magistrate and Sub-Collector in Kalahandi and Jharsuguda. She was also a member of the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Universal Health Coverage established by the Planning Commission.
Originally from Uttar Pradesh, she is an alumna of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, and completed her Master’s degree at the University of Lucknow. She earned a Master’s in Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, USA, in 2007.
Her husband Saurabh Garg is also an Odisha-cadre IAS officer and is currently serving as Secretary, Statistics and Programme Implementation at the Centre.
