Sanjeev Chopra has been appointed the new Bengal industry secretary in place of S. Kishore, the eighth such shift in seven years in the key department.

Industry minister Amit Mitra has taken charge of information technology from Bratya Basu, who has been given biotechnology. Kishore has been shifted to biotechnology, a department merged with higher education a year ago but spun out again later as a separate wing.

The new industry secretary’s appointment became a talking point. “Having eight secretaries in seven years sends the message that everything is not going well in the department. This is an area where the government has been striving to draw investments,” said a senior official.

A top official pointed out that Chopra, a 1985-batch IAS officer, is one of the senior-most in the state and it appears that the government wanted an experienced hand in the industry department.

“The change appeared inevitable when Kishore did not make it to the delegation that accompanied chief minister Mamata Banerjee and industry and finance minister Amit Mitra to Germany and Italy recently to draw investments,” said the official.

A section of officials expressed surprise at the choice of Chopra. “He is known to be a man of agriculture as he has worked in the ministry of agriculture in Delhi and Bengal for long. Also, it was believed that he had developed differences with the government as president of the IAS Association in Bengal after raising some uncomfortable questions,” said a source.

Sources also said Chopra was appointed the industry secretary as the government wanted a fresh face after the department tried almost all possible candidates in the past seven years.

When Trinamul came to power in 2011, Dipankar Mukherjee was the industry secretary, followed by Alapan Bandopadhyay and C.M. Bachhawat, who was not given a long stint and Kishore was brought in. A few months later, Krishna Gupta was appointed. He was followed by Rajiva Sinha, who got a few months. Kishore was then brought back again for a little over a year.

“Such frequent changes don’t send a positive message to investors,” said another

official.