Asit Kumar Tripathy appointed Odisha Chief Secretary

BHUBANESWAR: Asit Kumar Tripathy will be the new chief secretary of Odisha, an official said on Thursday.nnTripathy, a 1986 batch IAS officer will succeed A P Padhi, who was on Wednesday appointed the State Election Commissioner, an official statement said.nnPrior to his appointment as chief secretary, Tripathy was the Development Commissioner and also in-charge of the Home department and Chief Administrator of the KBK region.nnSuresh Chandra Mahapatra, a 1986 batch IAS officer who was the additional chief secretary in charge of Forest and Environment department will succeed Tripathy as the Development Commissioner. Mahapatra will also hold additional charge of working chairperson of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), the notification said.nnPradipta Kumar Mohapatra, the Additional Chief Secretary in charge of School and Mass Education department was appointed the Agriculture Production Commissioner.nnFormer IAS officer R Balakrishnan who was working as the Chief Adviser Special Initiatives will also function as Chief Adviser in the Chief Minister’s Office with immediate effect, it said.nnWorks Secretary Krishnan Kumar will hold additional charge of the Chief Administrator of SJTA, the notification added.nnSource: Press Trust of India