Senior IAS Officer Pradeep Jena Is The New Chief Secretary Of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Pradeep Kumar Jena  has been appointed as Chief Secretary of Odisha. He will succeed incumbent Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, who is due to retire on February 28 after two successive extensions of six months each.

Jena, a 1989-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, was serving as Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary, Planning and Convergence with additional charge of Agriculture Production Commissioner, Special Relief Commissioner and MD, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).

Anu Garg will replace him as Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary, Planning and Convergence while continuing as Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources, an official notification issued on Sunday said.

Last year, the possibility of Jena being picked for the top bureaucratic post was doing the rounds. But the state government decided to give Mahapatra another extension following the green signal for continuing in the service from the Centre.