Kolkata: With 10 per cent of the total beneficiaries not receiving ration for the entire month at a time during the lockdown, the Bengal government has changed the Secretary of its Food and Supplies department as "the task has not been carried out despite being told repeatedly". Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also expressed her displeasure over the same.
Parwez Ahmad Siddiqui, who was Secretary of the Food Processing Industries and Horticulture department, has been made the Secretary of Food and Supplies department replacing the department's Principal Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who has been sent on compulsory waiting.
Besides the change in the top brass of the state Food and Supplies department, there was also a major reshuffle in the IAS cadre in Bengal. Senior IAS officer Sunil Kumar Gupta, who is at present Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture Department with an additional charge of the Agriculture Marketing Department, has been given the additional charge of the Food Processing Industries and Horticulture department. Shashank Sethi, who was District Magistrate of West Burdwan, has been made OSD to the Chief Secretary. Ponnambalam S has become the new District Magistrate (DM) of Darjeeling, replacing Deepap Priya P who has become OSD of Personnel and Administrative Reforms department. Ponnambalam S was earlier posted as Chief Executive Officer, Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA).
The move to change the Food Secretary came after the Cabinet meeting on Thursday at Nabanna Sabhaghar where the matter related to the distribution of free-of-cost foodgrains was discussed in detail.