Ahead of polls, GHMC gets major share in IAS postings

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government late on Sunday night announced postings for several IAS officers allotted to the state as part of the division of All India Service officials between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The government on Monday also relieved from duties two IAS officers allotted to Andhra Pradesh.
Of the total 25 IAS officers, five have been allotted to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), an indication of the state government's plans to put on fast track city's development as the ruling party aims to capture power in the forthcoming elections.
The TRS has been making serious efforts to capture the civic body, and has roped in two influential MLAs from TDP - Talasani Srinivas Yadav, who has been made a minister in the cabinet, and former mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy - into the party to achieve its goal. The ruling party is also making plans to woo nearly 25 former corporators to ensure its victory the elections.
Senior IAS officer M G Gopal (1983) has been given the important post of principal secretary in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department. Gopal, who, for several years headed the Hyderabad Metro Water Works and Sewerage Board, is expected to play a key role with regard to city's development.
Dr Shailendra Kumar Joshi, another senior officer, has been given the important position of principal secretary in the irrigation & command area development. The 1983 batch officer Ranjeev R Acharya has been posted as principal secretary in the education department. She replaces Vikas Raj (1992), who was relieved from his duties on Monday following his allocation to the Andhra Pradesh cadre. M Hari Narayanan, a 2011 batch officer, has also been relieved of duties following his allocation to Andhra Pradesh.
The government posted Navin Mittal (1996 batch) and M Veerabhahmaiah (1997 batch) as special commissioners, while G Kishan (2001), Dr Gaurav Uppal (2005) and Pausumi Basu (2007) as additional commissioners in the GHMC. Kishan was the collector of Warangal district while Basu was joint collector in the same district.
There was a major reshuffle of district collectors also.
Kishan has been replaced by V Karuna (2004) as Warangal collector, while Patil Prashant Jeevan (2012) has been posted as the joint collector.
The new collectors posted in various districts are as follows: Neetu Kumari Prasad (Karimnagar), M Raghunandan Rao (Rangareddy), GD Priyadarshini (Adilabad), P Satyanarayana Reddy (Nalgonda), TK Sreedevi (Mahbubnagar) and K Nirmala (Hyderabad).
Junior-level officers' postings include, Rajat Kumar Saini (2007) as joint collector-I, RR district, Hari Chandana Dasari (2010) as joint collector-II RR district, L Surendra Mohan (2007) as joint collector Khammam, Kartade Kalicharan Sudamrao (2012) as Paloncha sub-collector in Khammam, Rajeevgandhi Hanumanthu (2012) as Asifabad sub-collector in Adilabad, Alugu Varsini VS (2012) as Vikarabad sub-collector in RR district and D Krishna Bhaskar (2012) as Jagityal sub-collector in Karimnagar.
While the 2010 batch officer Bharati Hollikeri has been posted as the chief rationing officer, Hyderabad, Sarfaraz Ahmed (2009) is expected to be posted as municipal commissioner, Warangal Municipal Corporation (WMC).