From Oct, Alapan Bandyopadhay to take over as chief secretary

Alapan Bandyopadhyay. (Express file photo)

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Alapan Bandyopadhay was appointed the next Chief Secretary of West Bengal on Monday. He succeeds Rajiva Sinha, who is set to retire on September 30, from next month.

A 1987-batch officer, Bandyopadhay will retire next June.

Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote, “I’m pleased to announce that Alapan Bandyopadhay, now Addnl Chief Secy Home and Information is appointed as the new Chief Secretary of WB.”

Current Finance Secretary HK Dwivedi, who has been in his current post for the past nine years, will succeed Bandyopadhay at the Home and Hill Affairs Department. Manoj Pant, the principal secretary in the Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Department, will take charge as the new Finance Secretary.

Bandyopadhay also held the top bureaucratic post in the Information and Culture Department, where Shantanu Basu will succeed him.

Rajesh Sinha will be the new Transport Secretary. He replaces Prabhat Misra, who has been appointed the secretary of the Water Resource Investigation Department with an additional charge of the Fisheries Department.

Meanwhile, Rajiva Sinha was appointed the Chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation. The CM tweeted, “I would also like to announce that outgoing Chief Secretary of West Bengal Shri Rajiva Sinha, has now been appointed the Chairman of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation for a period of 3 years w.e.f 1st October. I thank him for his tireless service to GoWB.”

Last week, the chief minister lauded Sinha for his handling of the Amphan crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Sinha, who took over as the Chief Secretary of Bengal in 2019 following the retirement of Malay De, was considered Banerjee’s crisis manager in the state administration.

Bandyopadhay was also given several important roles such as Municipal Affairs Secretary, Transport Secretary and Home Secretary. For a brief period, he was also the state Election Commissioner.

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