Bhubaneswar: Senior bureaucrat Suresh Chandra Mohapatra on Friday assumed charge as the new chief secretary and chief development commissioner of Odisha. He replaced Asit Kumar Tripathy who retired from service on Thursday.
Tripathy was appointed as the chairman of the Western Odisha Development Council. He will also be the principal advisor to the chief minister on regional development, tourism, agribusiness and industry. Additional Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena also took charge as the state’s development commissioner, a post held by Mohapatra.
“Revival of the economy is a big challenge for us,” Mohapatra told reporters. Prior to his appointment as the new chief secretary, the 1986-batch IAS officer was also holding the additional charge as the working chairperson of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
Mohapatra will remain as the chief secretary till February 28, 2022. Known in the bureaucratic circles as a “quiet performer”, Mohapatra started his career in civil service as the sub-collector of Nuapada district in 1988.
He went on to serve as the district collector of Bhadrak, Kandhamal and Puri districts. He was once again posted as the Bhadrak collector during the 1999 super cyclone to handle the critical situation.
During his stint as the secretary of the Forest and Environment Department, Mohapatra developed the concept of eco-tourism, which boosted the state’s tourism sector.
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