In major reshuffle, 54 Ludhiana MC, LIT officials transferred

In a major reshuffle ordered by the local bodies department, as many as 54 senior officials deputed in different branches of the Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) and Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) were transferred to other municipal corporations and improvement trusts in the state.

In a major reshuffle ordered by the local bodies department, as many as 54 senior officials deputed in different branches of the Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) and Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) were transferred to other municipal corporations and improvement trusts in the state.

The orders, which came late on Thursday evening came as a shock to officials. They claimed that it was for the first time that such a major reshuffle had taken place, and most senior officials have been transferred. (Representative Image/HT File)

As many as 42 municipal corporation officials,including municipal corporation secretary Jasdev Sekhon; superintending engineers Rahul Gagneja, Praveen Singla, Ravinder Garg and Rajinder Singh; executive engineer Ranbir Singh, senior town planner SS Bindra , 12 building inspectors; and sanitary inspectors, have been transferred. The officers had been working on several key projects, including cleaning the Buddha Nullah and a 24/7 canal based water supply project.

While Bindra has been transferred to the Bathinda municipal corporation, Rajnish Wadhwa has been deputed as the new municipal town Planner and Tejpreet Singh as the senior town planner. STP Kamaljit Kaur has been directed to look into the working of Ludhiana region from Chandigarh.

Similarly, 12 LIT officials, including the executive officer Jagdev Singh , and superintending engineers, Sat Bhushan Sachdeva, and Buta Ram have been transferred.

The orders, which came late on Thursday evening came as a shock to officials. They claimed that it was for the first time that such a major reshuffle had taken place, and most senior officials have been transferred.

During his visit to the city, local bodies minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar said, “Transfers are necessary to keep the officials active and on their toes. No official has been targeted. Action will be taken against the officials, who fail to work for the betterment of the public.”

MLAs urge minister to postpone orders

With most senior officials deputed in the operations and maintenance (O and M) cell, which deals with water and sewer lines, transferred, MLAs have urged the local bodies minister to postpone the orders for at least three months. They reasoned that with the city will be inundated in the monsoon in the absence of officials who are familiar with the sewer infrastructure in the city. MLA Ashok Prashar Pappi (Ludhiana Central) said, “We have urged the minister to postpone the transfer for at least three months so that the public does not face harassment during monsoons and work is not affected in MC offices.”

However, the minister said that as officials from other cities have been posted to Ludhiana there will be no shortage of staff.

EO arrested by VB transferred, SE Garg back in city

LIT executive officer Kuljit Kaur, who was arrested by vigilance department for graft on Thursday, was transferred to Phagwara later in the day. Superintending engineer Rakesh Garg, who was transferred from the LIT amid a row over a leaked audio clip between him and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in 2019, has been posted back to the improvement trust.