Arijit Banerjee, a 1991-batch officer will be the new head of forest force (HoFF) of Rajasthan. He will replace Munish Kumar Garg, who is superannuating on May 31.
Arijit Banerjee was second in seniority after Arindam Tomar (1989 batch). But he was preferred over him as Tomar is scheduled to retire in July this year and the state government decided not to give him charge for short term. Banerjee has more than two years left for his superannuation. He will serve till October 2026. With this he has been elevated to the pay scale of Head of Forest Force (HoFF). Pavan Kumar Upadhyay (1992-batch) was also in the reckoning in the three member panel. Upadhyay will have two years time after the retirement of Banerjee.
Arijit Banerjee is a popular officer not only in his cadre but among IAS and IPS officers also. He had worked in chief minister's office twice during both the terms of Vasundhara Raje. He enjoys good rapport in bureaucracy.
The chief secretary Sudhansh Pant is also a 1991-batch IAS officer. This is for the first time order of appointment of HoFF has been issued five days before the present HoFF demits his office.
Arjit Banerjee is currently working as principal chief conservator of forest and project director of Rajasthan Forestry and Diversity Project (Phase-2). He has held several important posts in his 33 years long career.
A media savvy officer, Arijit Banerjee is considered an efficient and effective officer known to take along everyone together as a good team leader.
“Banerjee Sir is a very good officer. He will leave his mark on this post. He is creative and we are just waiting in for this moment to come when he becomes boss of Rajasthan forest,” said an IFS officer, who has closely worked with him.
An avid wild life photographer and a good writer, Arijit Banerjee can put to shame any lensman in the country with his creative photography.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.
