Pune: District Collector Naval Kishore Ram transferred to PMO office as Deputy Secretary

Pune: District Collector Naval Kishore Ram has been transferred to the Prime Minister Office (PMO) as Deputy Secretary. Ram has been asked to take charge of the new assignment within three weeks. After Shreekar Pardeshi and Kunal Kumar, Ram is the third officer to be hand-picked by the PMO office for handling crucial responsibility at the centre.

Ram is a 2008 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He was appointed as the Pune District Collector two years back. He will be working on deputation with the central government for the next four years. J Srinivasan, Director (MM) has issued the transfer orders of Ram on August 4. These orders have been sent to the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra state government.

Prior to Ram, Dr Shreekar Pardeshi who was working as Managing Director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) and Inspector General of Registrar was picked by the PMO office four years back. Kunal Kumar who was working as the Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation was selected by the PMO to work as director of Smart City Mission. Now Ram has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the PMO office.

The PMO has taken into consideration the efforts and performance of Naval Kishore Ram while handling the complex COVID-19 outbreak situation in the district. Pune district was recently on the radar for reporting the highest number of COVID-19 cases, but it was revealed that the numbers were higher because the testing of COVID-19 patients per million population was highest in the state. Ram was recently appreciated for facilitating the citizenship to 700 persons from the Pakistan-based Sindhi community who had settled in India for several years.

It will be interesting to see who takes his position after Ram is transferred to the PMO. It is expected that the state government will issue orders regarding the new appointment of Pune District Collector on Wednesday (August 5) evening.