Tamil Nadu Reshuffles Bureaucracy Post-Kallakurichi Hooch Tragedy

Chennai: Close on the heels of a shuffle in the police department following the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, the State government shifted a few senior and popular bureaucrats out of their present positions and changed a slew of district collectors on Tuesday.

Principal Secretary P Amudha was transferred from the Home, Prohibition and Excise department and posted in the Revenue and Disaster Management Department and J Radhakrishnan, Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation, was shifted to the department of Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection.

Taking the place of Amudha is Dheeraj Kumar, an officer in the rank of Additional Chief Secretary who is now in the Information Technology and Digital Services department, while J Anne Mary Swarna, the Collector of Ariyalur district, has been made the joint secretary in the Home Prohibition and Excise Department.

Sravan Kumar Jatavat, who was the Collector of Kallakurichi when the hooch tragedy struck killing 63 people, has now been posted as Joint Secretary in the Housing and Urban Development department and the services of J Kumaragurubaran, secretary in the School Education department, have been placed at the disposal of the Greater Chennai Corporation to replace Radhakrishnan.

The districts that will have new Collectors are Ariyalur (P Rathinasamy), Cuddalore (Sibi Adithya Senthil Kumar), Kanyakumari (R Alagumeena), Perambalur (Grace Lalrindiki Pachuau), Ramanathpuram (Simrajjeet Singh Kahlon), Ranipet (J U Chandraleka), Pudukottai (M Aruna), The Nilgiris (Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru), Thanjavur (B Priyanka) and Nagapattinam (P Akash).

Other major transfers include V Rajaraman from secretary in revenue and disaster management to Tamil development and information department, S Madhumathi to the department of School Education replacing Kumaragurubaran, K Gopal, additional chief secretary, from food and consumer protection to animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries and fishermen welfare. K Veera Raghava Rao from Commissioner of Technical Education to Secretary of Labour Welfare and Skill Development, replacing Kumar Jayant, shifted to information technology and digital services.