Amaravati
Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1985 batch, Sameer Sharma, on Thursday assumed charge as the chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh.
He succeeded 1987-batch officer Aditya Nath Das, who retired at the end of his extended tenure. Das has now been appointed as the state government’s chief advisor in New Delhi, with the rank of a cabinet minister.
Sharma is due to retire from service on November 30 this year. It is expected that he too may get an extension in service, like his predecessors, government sources said.
He returned to the state cadre from the Central deputation in July this year, after having served as the director general of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs.
An academician and scholar, Sharma has authored many books like Smart Cities Unbundled, A Textbook on Urban Planning and Geography and Hourglass Management Paradigm.
An expert in urban development affairs, Sharma had earlier served as director of National Smart Cities Mission.
He was the only IAS officer to have served as the Commissioner of three major municipal corporations of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Greater Hyderabad in the united AP and contributed to their financial turnaround.
He did his Masters and doctorate in Community Planning in the United States of America.
{{/usCountry}}He did his Masters and doctorate in Community Planning in the United States of America.
{{/usCountry}}As Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Tourism Development Corporation, Sharma designed a model for strategic planning and executed the Balance Scorecard system that led to a 30 per cent increase in revenues of the hotel chain.
He worked as a consultant for UN Habitat in Cambodia and International Federation of Red Cross Societies.
Sharma received awards from the President and the Prime Minister for his initiatives in promotion of community organisations in slums and reforms in governance under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.