Siliguri, 03rd November: Just a few hours after meeting the Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday, Darjeeling District Magistrate S Ponnambalam has been transferred as Joint Secretary of the Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Rehabilitation department.
Shashank Sethi, who is currently posted as managing director of the West Bengal State Agricultural Marketing Board, will be replacing Ponnambalam as the new DM of Darjeeling.
With this, Darjeeling is set to get it’s 5th District Magistrate. The Bengal government has made major shuffle in district officials before the 2021 assembly elections.
Meanwhile, Moumita Godara Basu has been appointed as the new District Magistrate of Jalpaiguri. Whereas Abhishek Kumar Tiwary, the former DM of Jalpaiguri, was named as the Joint Secretary of Higher Education Department.
It is to be noted, the Governor, who is on a month-long Darjeeling visit, had cautioned administrators in the state to remain “politically neutral” during a press conference in Siliguri on Sunday. This was followed by a meeting on Monday, where Darjeeling DM S Ponnambalam, Superintendent of Police Dr Santosh Nimbalkar and Siliguri Police Commissioner CP Tripurari met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling. The transfer of Ponnambalam just hours after the said meeting has raised many eyebrows.