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Omita Paul with her husband and former Delhi police commissioner KK Paul at Parliament on Wednesday. (PTI) |
New Delhi, July 25: Omita Paul, an official who has assisted Pranab Mukherjee for a long time, moved to Rashtrapati Bhavan today along with three other officials in the finance ministry.
The appointment of the 63-year-old Omita as secretary to the President was approved by the appointments committee of the cabinet. She has been inducted on contract in the rank and pay of secretary.
Pradip Gupta and Rajnish Kumar, an officer on special duty and private secretary, respectively, in the finance ministry, were shifted to Rashtrapati Bhavan as private secretaries to the President. The third to be transferred was Suresh Yadav, a director in the finance ministry, who will now be officer on special duty to the President.
Omita was the all-powerful adviser to Mukherjee in the finance ministry. She has been assisting Mukherjee since the early 1990s in his earlier positions as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and in the commerce and external affairs ministries.
She became adviser to Mukherjee when he held the portfolios of defence, external affairs and finance.
Mukherjee’s cook for the past 20 years, Padam, has also moved to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
On the first day, the President lived in the guestroom of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
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