Akhilesh transfers 116 senior officials

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Saturday midnight  undertook a major rejig of the state bureaucracy, transferring 56 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 60 Indian Police Service (IPS) officials.

In one of the biggest reshuffles of the state bureaucracy since he took over as chief minister March last, 31 districts got new district magistrates, while 41 districts got new police chiefs.

As the ruling Samajwadi Party office in the state capital received many complaints from the districts, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav openly aired his displeasure at 'bad governance' at the district level. The bureaucracy was agog with rumours of a major make over.

The government has put seven district magistrates in waiting, while 17 district police chiefs have been attached to the director general of police in Lucknow.

A government spokesman told IANS that of the fresh postings, 27 were promoted from the provincial police service (PPS) to IPS.

Those promoted have been made police chiefs in Rae Bareily, Firozabad, Ambedkarnagar, Kanpur rural, Jalaun, Amroha, Baghpat, Hapur, Saharanpur, Pratapgarh, Banda, Chitrakoot,  and Maharajganj.

Zuhair Bin Sageer, officer on special duty at the office of the chief minister, has been shunted out and posted as district magistrate, Agra.