Anu Garg becomes first woman IAS officer to hold the post of Odisha Development Commissioner

Bhubaneswar: Anu Garg today became the first woman IAS officer to hold the post of Odisha Development Commissioner after the State government gave her the new appointment today.

Anu Garg, a 1991 batch IAS officer, replaced Pradeep Jena as the Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary of Planning and Convergence.

With her new appointment as Odisha Development Commissioner, Anu Garg became the second highest ranked bureaucrat of the State as the post of the Development Commissioner is considered the number two position in the state’s bureaucratic hierarchy.

Apart from her new appointment, Garg will continue as Additional Chief Secretary of the Water Resources Department. She is also the first woman IAS officer to hold the post of the Additional Chief Secretary of Water Resources Department.

Anu Garg, who was born on March 1, 1969 in Lucknow of Uttar Pradesh, has done her M.A in Sociology. She is an alumnus of LSR, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She had held several key positions in both centre and Odisha earlier.

It is to be noted here that Odisha government promoted Anu Garg to the Apex Scale in IAS in Level-17 of the Pay Matrix on January 15, 2022.

On the other hand, Jena, who is a 1989-batch IAS officer, was appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Odisha. He will assume the charge from present Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra on March 1, 2023.

Likewise, the State government today appointed outgoing Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra as the Chairperson of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC). According to a notification released by the Energy Department of the State government, Suresh Mahapatra, whose tenure as Chief Secretary is ending on February 28, 2023 will join as the Chairperson of OERC with effect from the date he assumes the office.