Much-anticipated major bureaucratic reshuffle has taken place in the State late Thursday night. According to the highly-placed sources, very soon additional chief secretaries and principal secretaries transfer list is likely to be released. As per Thursday major overhaul, 26 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers have been transferred. This restructuring has led to the appointment of new Collectors in 14 districts across the State, including the capital city, Bhopal. As a part of these strategic changes, Priyank Mishra, who was previously serving as the Collector of Dhar, has been appointed as the new Collector of Bhopal.

 

The outgoing Bhopal Collector, Kaushalendra Vikram Singh, has been shifted to the Chief Minister’s Office as Secretary, where he will also hold the additional charge of Commissioner-cum-Director of Town and Country Planning. The State Secretariat and departmental leadership also witnessed substantial changes, specifically within the home and education sectors. Shilpa Gupta, formerly the Commissioner of Public Instruction and ex-officio Secretary of School Education, has been transferred to serve as Secretary in the Home Department.

 

Conversely, Abhishek Singh, who was the Secretary in the Home Department, has now taken over as the Commissioner of Public Instruction. Furthermore, divisional management saw a shift as Krishna Gopal Tiwari was moved from his post as Commissioner of the Narmadapuram Division to become the Commissioner of Social Justice and Disabled Welfare, with Shrikanth Banoth stepping in as the new Divisional Commissioner of Narmadapuram. A notable feature of this transfer list is the prominent placement of women officers in key field leadership roles.

 

Rakhi Sahay, previously the Secretary of the MP Public Service Commission in Indore, has been designated as the Collector of Umaria, while Sheela Dahima has moved from her role as Deputy Secretary in the Co-operatives Department to become the Collector of Sheopur. Bidisha Mukherjee, formerly the Deputy Secretary in Public Health Engineering, has been appointed as the Collector of Maihar. The reshuffle also saw Neha Meena moving from Jhabua to Seoni as Collector, and Pratiba Pal transferring from Rewa to lead the Sagar district.

 

Meanwhile, some officers have transitioned from field roles to the secretariat, including Sonia Meena, who moves from the Narmadapuram Collectorate to the Finance Department as Additional Secretary, and Sheetla Patle, who moves from Seoni to the Public Service Commission as Secretary. The reshuffle extended to several other districts to ensure administrative fresh starts across the State. Arpit Verma has been moved from Sheopur to become the Collector of Shivpuri, and Narendra Kumar Suryavanshi has transitioned from Betul to take charge as the Collector of Rewa. Somesh Mishra has been appointed as the Collector of Narmadapuram, while Rajiv Ranjan Meena takes over as the Collector of Dhar.

 

Additional appointments include Pratap Narayan Yadav as the Collector of Damoh, Rahul Namdev Dhote in Mandla, Dr Yogesh Tukaram Bharasat in Jhabua, and Dr Saurabh Sanjay Sonwane as the Collector of Betul. Finally, several outgoing Collectors have been reassigned to departmental and administrative roles. Ravindra Kumar Choudhary has moved from Shivpuri to become Additional Secretary for the Narmada Valley Development Department, and Dharendra Kumar Jain has transitioned from Umaria to become the Additional Secretary in the Aviation Department. Sandeep GR has been reassigned from Sagar to serve as the Labour Commissioner in Indore, and Sudhir Kumar Kochar has moved from the Damoh Collectorate to the Chief Minister’s Office as Deputy Secretary.