[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 21 Apr: The appointment of 1989 batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer Dharmendra, the current chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), as the chief secretary (CS) of Arunachal Pradesh is the first time that an officer empanelled as secretary in the government of India has been posted as CS to the state.
Earlier, before becoming the NDMC chairman, Dharmendra was posted in the union consumer affairs ministry’s food & public distribution department as additional secretary.
He was also posted as joint secretary of the housing & urban affairs ministry from 2013 to 2018. Dharmendra is currently empanelled as a secretary in the central government, and his appointment as the CS of Arunachal has surprised seasoned bureaucrats.
“He was supposed to be posted as a secretary in the government of India,” said a retired senior bureaucrat who has worked with Dharmendra in the past.
“He is known as someone who goes by the rulebook. Also, he is known to regularly meet people and is a people-friendly officer,” the retired bureaucrat added.
This is going to be Dharmendra’s first posting in Arunachal. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi.
The present CS, Naresh Kumar, who is a 1987 batch IAS officer, has been posted as the new chief secretary of Delhi.
