Pawan Kadyan is stepping down as commissioner of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. He will continue as SDO of Bidhannagar, the post he first held when he joined the civic body when it was still a municipality. Kadyan was the first IAS officer to hold this post. 

Kadyan is being replaced by Alokesh Prasad Roy, a WBCS officer of the 1990 batch who is now a joint secretary.  
“The transfer is a routine one. The SDO will act as the returning officer during the elections and so it won’t be possible for him to remain in charge as municipal commissioner,” said a source at Nabanna. 

Roy, who met mayor Sabyasachi Dutta on Wednesday was involved in a controversy in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The election commission (EC) had transferred eight officers including Roy, who was then serving as the additional district magistrate (zilla parishad) of South 24-Parganas, for being bias towards the ruling party and inactive on complaints of model code violation. 

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had initially challenged the EC and said that she would not transfer the officers, but later relented. The officers were then transferred to posts not related to elections. 

“This has probably happened in the interest of public service,” said Kadyan. However some corporation sources expressed surprise at the move. There have been reports of friction between Kadyan and the mayor in recent times. 

Roy seemed upbeat about his appointment. “I will soon be taking over the reins of the corporation,” he said after meeting Dutta on Wednesday.