Senior IAS Officer Pradeep Jena Takes Charge As New Chief Secretary Of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Pradeep Kumar Jena took charge as the Chief Secretary of Odisha on Wednesday.

Jena, a 1989-batch IAS officer who was serving as the Development Commissioner, succeeds Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, whose tenure came to an end on Tuesday with retirement after two successive extensions of six months each.

Jena was also serving as 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).

Earlier, Jena held the post of the chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, and also served as Secretary in Rural Development, Water Resources, IT and Energy departments.

Anu Garg, a 1991-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, also assumed charge as the new Development Commissioner of Odisha, in addition to retaining the post of Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources.

Meanwhile, on superannuation, 1986 batch IAS officer Suresh Mahapatra, took charge as the chairperson of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).

On Tuesday, all three officers — Pradeep Jena, Suresh Mahapatra and Anu Garg — met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence in Bhubaneswar.