UP Govt transfers 74 IAS officers, CM gets principal secretary

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, Uttar Pradesh government tonight transferred 74 senior IAS officers, appointing Shashi Prakash Goyal as the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and removing Devashish Panda from the post of Principal Secretary, Home.
"Principal Secretary Revenue and Relief Commissioner, Arvind Kumar will be the new principal secretary home in place of Panda, who has been made resident commissioner of Uttar Pradesh in New Delhi," a government spokesperson here said.
Panda was appointed on the key post by the previous Akhilesh Yadav government and had continued on it despite the new government taking over the reins in March.

The new appointments assume significance following continued attack on the government at the hands of the opposition in both the houses of the state legislature.
Besides Panda, Shashi Prakash Goel, who was awaiting posting has been made principal secretary to the Chief Minister, along with the charge of civil aviation, estate department and protocol, the spokesman said.
Additional Chief Secretary Power, Sanjay Agarwal has been shifted to secondary and technical education and Alok Kumar comes to power department in his place.
Sanjay Agarwal was considered close to the previous Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The government also shifted the District Magistrates of Auraiya, Gonda, Faizabad, Lalitpur, Azamgarh, Ballia, Chitrakoot, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Jaunpur and Kaushambi.