Kushal Singh succeeds Samant as top order of bureaucracy is shuffled

The Congress-led Rajasthan government made a politically significant top order bureaucratic reshuffle on Friday by appointing a Jat, IAS officer Kushal Singh, as the new chief secretary.

Singh is the first woman chief secretary of the state. She has replaced DC Samant, who has now been appointed chairman of the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC).

Even though she is due to retire later this year, the state government has accommodated Singh in the coveted chair superseding three IAS officers. The new secretary is due to retire on October 31.

Many analysts are of the view that the merger of Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Petroleum (RPL) will have an impact on the state government’s revenue. Currently, RIL is paying to the state government huge amounts as taxes under VAT and other regimes. But after the merger, it is quite possible that the RIL unit at Jamnagar will be converted into an export-oriented unit.

Even after initiation of special proxy voting facility by the election commission of India, the armed forces personnel posted in Sriganganagar seemed least interested in it and have rather opted for inclusion of their name in the general voter’s list for the Lok Sabha polls.

The district election officer had also recently asked the army and BSF officials stationed in Sriganganagar to make aware the personnel about the new facility. However, the 500 applications from Sadhuwali and Lalgarh Jatan cantonment in Sriganganagar have surprised the election officials as these were for inclusion of names of the personnel in the general voter’s list and not for proxy voting, said an official posted in the election office at Sriganganagar.

Raj’s election dept identified as ideal for other states

Almost 10 years after laying the foundation stone for the Bisalpur-Jaipur Water Supply Project (BWSP) in December 1999, chief minister Ashok Gehlot will inaugurate the supply of Bisalpur water in Jaipur on Sunday in Sector 9 of Malviya Nagar.

The project will supply water from the existing Bisalpur dam and reservoir (located on the Banas river, about 106 kilometres south west of Jaipur city) up to Balawala, from where potable water will be supplied through supply systems in Jaipur and nearby rural areas. The project aims at supplying potable water to nearly 53 lakh people in major settlement areas of the city till 2021.

JDA earmarks funds for roads, sanitation, water supply lines and electrification

The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) will spend Rs45 crore to improve basic infrastructure like roads, sanitation, electrification, water supply lines and plantation in several areas falling under its jurisdiction. In a meeting on Friday, the Project Works Committee (PWC) of the authority gave its nod to the proposal and issued directions to study the viability of a policy for sustained development of various areas.