Jagan tightens spending, rejigs administration

Sending a clear signal that he is serious about bringing in good administration, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has begun making key changes after taking over as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.

He reviewed Polavaram project from his Tadepalli residence on Friday after postponing his assuming office at the interim secretariat.

Immediately after taking over the administration on Thursday, he transferred Satish Chandra, Special Chief Secretary to former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and three other officials G Sai Prasad, Principal Secretary, M Girija Shankar, Secretary, and A V Rajamouli, Secretary. Special Grade Deputy Collector (retired) P Krishna Mohan Reddy was appointed as OSD to the Chief Minister. K Dhananjaya Reddy was appointed as Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister.

Former chief secretary Anil Chandra Punetha was relieved from his duties as Managing Director of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Limited. On Thursday night itself, Jaganmohan Reddy shunted out state Director General of Police R P Thakur and posted him to Printing and Stationery Department as Commissioner. Damodar Goutam Sawang, DGP Thakur's 1986 batchmate, has been given full additional charge as the new DGP.

On anticipated lines, former Intelligence chief and present Anti-Corruption Bureau DG A B Venkateswara Rao (1989 batch) has also been removed and asked to report to the General Administration Department. Kumar Viswajeet, currently Additional DG (Intelligence), has been given full additional charge as DG, ACB. In a significant move, 1992 batch IAS officer Shamsher Singh Rawat has been made Principal Finance Secretary. CM Jagan appointed 2000 batch IAS officer Solomon Arokia Raj as his Secretary.

Empty coffers

With the state coffers almost empty and no money to pay salaries, Chief Secretary LV Subrahmanyam directed all departments that works sanctioned prior to 1 April 2019 but did not begin are cancelled. This might hit payments for major infrastructure projects such as Bhogapuram International Airport, Ramayapatnam Port, Kadapa Steel Plant, Bandar Port, Amaravati Iconic Bridge, and Muktyala Lift Irrigation scheme. Even Amaravati works which are under the scanner of the new government might get hit.

Sources in CMO say that the chief minister will be entering his chambers at the secretariat only after the first week of June. By that, he is planning to declare his cabinet colleagues. Meanwhile, he will review the working of important departments starting from Finance and revenue on Saturday. The crucial Capital region Development Agency (CRDA) will be taken up on June 6.