Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar conducted a massive surgical strike in the state bureaucracy in the early hours of Saturday transferring 22 district magistrates and 17 superintendents of police. Sources said many of them were handpicked choices of RJD leader Lalu Prasad.
The first such move after Nitish parted ways with the Grand Alliance and switched over to the BJP-led NDA in July last year, indicated that the bugle for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections had been sounded. According to the Election Commission (EC) guidelines, no transfers can be done six months before the elections.
All the DMs and SPs who have been transferred were posted in 2015 and 2016 - the days of the Grand Alliance of the JDU, the RJD and the Congress - in the state.
A majority of them have been given postings at the state administrative headquarters in Patna.
New sub-divisional officers (SDO) have also been posted in 54 out of a total of 101 sub-divisions in the state. Additionally, 70 sub-divisional police officers and deputy superintendents of police have also been shuffled.
The need for the major reshuffle was being felt for the past nine months, as Nitish's supporters had been pointing at the need to deploy hand-picked officers at the helm of affairs in districts to boost up governance and also do away with Lalu loyalists. The move will also allow Nitish a better grip on the administration.
The shuffled officers are the ones who work on the ground, discharge duties of day-to-day administration, interact with the public, implement government schemes, oversee law and order situation, are responsible for revision of electoral rolls, deployment of police and security forces during elections and ensure that all sections of the society vote.
A senior IAS, who was in the loop over deliberations on transfers and postings, told The Telegraph: "The flood season that starts from July, election announcements and revision of electoral rolls are the main considerations during the current transfers. The newly posted officers will get some breathing time to acclimatise themselves at the ground level."
"Moreover, the government also wants to send a message to the people that things will improve, especially in the light of recent rapes, murders and loots as well as communal tension. It's also a bid to change the public perception that stagnancy has crept into governance," the senior official said.
New district magistrates have been posted at Muzaffarpur, Khagaria, Saharsa, Bhabhua, Sheikhpura, Munger, Jamui, Vaishali, Sheohar, Katihar, Buxar, Lakhisarai, Samastipur, Madhepura, Bhagalpur, Sitamarhi, Rohtas, Gopalganj, Kishanganj, Begusarai and Saran.
Among the transferred IPS officials, senior superintendents of police (SSPs) of Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur as well as SPs of Purnea, Rohtas, Sitamarhi, Madhepura, Katihar, Kishanganj, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Munger, Saharsa, Nawada, Gopalganj and Kaimur districts are present.
Siwan district magistrate Mahendra Kumar has been transferred and has been asked to hand over his charge to the senior-most deputy collector. The district from which jailed gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin hails is considered an extremely sensitive one with regard to polls and law and order. It seems that the state government will take some more time to post a suitable DM there.
Nalanda deputy development commissioner Subrat Kumar Sen has been posted as Saran DM but will join from May 1 after the incumbent DM Harihar Prasad retires on April 30.
Begusarai has been given a new DM, Rahul Kumar, while incumbent Naushad Yusuf has been given voluntary retirement.
