Kolkata, Feb 20 (IANS): West Bengal government on Tuesday announced a major bureaucratic reshuffle of the officials ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

As per the government order Principal Secretary of Municipal Affairs & Urban Development Khalil Ahmed has been transferred to Western-Region Development Department.

Secretary Backward Class Development Department Sanjay Bansal has been given additional charges Municipal Affairs & Urban Development. Bansal will also hold the affairs of West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) as its Managing Director.

Nilam Mina has been appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Consumer Affairs Department. Roshni Sen, an Additional Chief Secretary level officer, has been appointed as the Chairman & Managing Director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), in addition to her existing charge as the Additional Chief Secretary Environment and Fisheries Department.

IAS officer Avinab Chanda has been appointed as Director of Institute of Environmental Studies & Wasteland.

A senior official of the Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department said that the senior bureaucrats who have been transferred had been in their respective posts for three years or above.

“They would have been transferred by the Election Commission of India (ECI) anyway before the elections. So, before the ECI orders, the state government itself initiated the transfers,” the official said.

A full-bench of ECI will visit West Bengal next week to review the process of poll- preparedness.

The state government wants to complete the process of necessary transfers before that, the state government official said.