The move is seen as a measure to speed up implementation of some of the ongoing ambitious initiatives in the DoT, such as the Broadband for All and BharatNet
In a major move to push some of the ongoing initiatives in the telecom department, the Government of India has appointed Anshu Prakash as the new Additional Secretary in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under the Ministry of Communications.
The Government has shifted the current special secretary N Sivasailam to the Department of Commerce as a special secretary – Logistics.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of N Sivasailam, special secretary in the Department of Telecommunications as special secretary (Logistics), Department of Commerce,” said the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in a notification on Saturday.
Sivasailam is a 1985 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre and has been promoted to the rank of special secretary in January 2018.
Prakash was Delhi Chief Secretary
Following the vacancy created due to the movement of Sivasailam to Commerce Department, the Central Government has appointed Anshu Prakash, who is currently working as a chief secretary of the Delhi Government, as an additional secretary.
However, the central government did not name a new Chief Secretary for Delhi government.
Prakash is a 1986 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre. He served as the Chief Secretary of Delhi for less than a year – from December 4, 2017 to November 18, 2018. Before Delhi’s Chief Secretary, he had worked as additional secretary and financial advisor in the Ministry of Rural Development.
In his new position, Prakash will report to Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan.
A major move to speed up initiatives
However, the move is seen as a measure to speed up implementation of some of the ongoing ambitious initiatives in the DoT, such as the Broadband for All and BharatNet as well as providing connectivity in 115 most-backward districts.
In a reshuffle, the ACC has shifted several high-level officials on Saturday, including UIDAI CEO and GSTN Chairman ABP Pandey as the new Revenue Secretary in place of Hasmukh Adhia and Yogendra Tripathy as the new Tourism Secretary replacing Rashmi Verma.
