Mamata hunting for ‘good’ bureaucrats in Delhi

A couple of days after taking over as Chief Minister,Mamata Banerjee,much to the chagrin of scores of bureaucrats in Kolkata,had said at a press conference that she was looking for good IAS officers but there is dearth of them in the state. “Many of them have left for Delhi. I am trying to get them back.’’ Banerjee had said.

In fact,the process has already started and after first getting Shantanu Bose,Banerjee’s former private secretary in the Railway Ministry,back to the Chief Minister’s office (CMO),Banerjee has roped in another senior bureaucrat,Sanjay Mitra,a 1982-batch officer who was posted as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mitra is most likely to become principal secretary to the Chief Minister as Banerjee’s plans to make Gautam Sanyal permanent head of the CMO have gone awry in the wake of severe pressure from the IAS lobby.

Sanyal,a central secretariat officer,is currently the temporary head of the CMO.

Another officer who resigned as Director (Security),Railway Board,last week is Nazrul Islam,an IPS officer who is all set to join the CMO. However,it is yet to be known in what position he will join.

Barun Roy,another IAS officer who was private secretary to Minister of State for Railways Mukul Roy,has come back to West Bengal but has not been given any specific assignment yet.

Banerjee is also looking for a Home Secretary in place of present incumbent G D Gautama,who has become a bete noire of the Chief Minister. Ever since she took over,Banerjee had called state DGP Naparajit Mukherjee or Kolkata Police Commissioner Ranjit Pachnanda for meetings,but never did she call Gautama once for any interaction.

All Home Department files are routed to the CM through Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh. “Ghosh is in fact working as both chief and home secretary,’’ said one official.