Three Collectors Shifted Again In Odisha Ahead Of Polls To Meet ECI Norms

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the twin elections, the Odisha government effected a minor bureaucratic reshuffle on Wednesday.

According to the notification issued by General Administration department, Puri Collector Bijay Kumar Dash has been appointed as the Commissioner of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC). His predecessor Siddharth Shankar Swain will replace him as Puri Collector.

Similarly, the positions of collectors of Mayurbhanj and Balasore, Ashish Thakare and Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, have also been swapped. Thakare has been given the charge of Balasore Collector and Shinde appointed as Collector of Mayurbhanj.

This came amid a direction from the Election Commission of India, asking the states to ensure that officers who are transferred out of a district ahead of elections are not posted to other district within the same parliamentary constituency.

As per the existing policy, government officers serving in home district or those who have completed more than three years in the current place of posting are transferred before Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections likely to be held in April.

Notably, Thakare, who had been serving as Keonjhar collector since January 19, 2018, was appointed as Collector of Mayurbhanj in January which saw 38 IAS officers, including 17 district collectors, being transferred in a major reshuffle. He had replaced another long-serving collector Vineet Bharadwaj, who had been holding the fort in Mayurbhanj since April 21, 2018.

Similarly, Swain, who was then serving as Angul Collector, was appointed CMC Commissioner, replacing Nikhil Pavan Kalyan.

Das also took charge as Puri Collector last month. Prior to that, he was serving as Secretary, State Election Commission.