Once again eyes of all senior IAS officers are on the ‘luxurious' room, which Shikhar Agrawal vacated after taking up the coveted charge of ACS to chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma.
Agrawal had moved to this room last month only when its previous occupant additional chief secretary Subodh Agarwal was sent out of secretariat.
Before Subodh Agarwal, this room was occupied by Rohit Kumar Singh, who is currently in central deputation serving as secretary consumer affairs.
“This room will be allotted to senior officer only. It is one of the best rooms in the secretariat with good approach, front view and huge space. The interior of the room is also tastefully done,” said a senior IAS officer, who is not a contender for this room.
Interesting coincidence of 1993 batch
Shikhar Agrawal, is a 1993-batch officer. He is a civil engineer from IIT Kanpur. He is not the only IAS from 1993 batch who is serving in CMO. His batchmate Tanmay Kumar had also served as principal secretary to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Kumar, who is currently additional secretary in ministry of environment forest and climate change, is also a civil engineer from IIT Delhi.
Agrawal was also additional chief secretary environment forest and climate change before moving to CMO.
Other officers of this ‘illustrious' 1993-batch are – Akhil Arora, who is ACS finance; his wife Aparna Arora, who is ACS revenue; Alok, who has recently been repatriated from centre and has been posted as principal resident commissioner and Sandeep Verma, who is serving as ACS PWD.
Shikhar Agrawal removed circles in Jaipur to make thorough way
As the commissioner of Jaipur Development Authority, Shikhar Agrawal removed circles on city roads to make thorough ways. People are expecting Agrawal to ‘bulldoze' all obstacles in CMO and make a thorough way between government and public.
The choice of Agrawal for CMO is considered as a wise decision. The chief secretary Sudhansh Pant is fast decision maker and believes in on-ground working.
To function in tandem with chief secretary, CMO also needed a dynamic and bold officer who can help in better alignment for meeting both political and governance goals together. Those who know Shikhar Agrawal and worked with him, are aware that he believes in results following due course.
“Shikhar Agrawal interprets laws in favour of work and tries to do away with obstructions. He takes risk if worth taking, said a senior official who had worked with him in JDA.
Ram Kumar Kaushik is a seasoned journalist with over 25 years of experience across mediums. The architect of this news website, he is also a consultant with several media groups. He was formerly the group managing editor of ITV Network (NewsX, India News and The Sunday Guardian) and its digital products.
