Lucknow, June 30 (UNI) Additional Chief Secretary and Industrial Development Commissioner (IDC) Anup Chandra Pandey on Saturday took over as the new Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.
Admitting the challenge of taking the state on the path of development, the new CS, after assuming the office, told reporters here that the state was already moved ahead in attracting huge investment for industrial development.
"We have a plan and strategy to make Uttar Pradesh one of the developed states in the country. Though resources are the main hurdle in the plan, but there is a strategy to overcome the shortages," said Mr Pandey.
He said the government was committed to give more facilities to the farmers, youth and poor, while bureaucracy will work as a team to serve the state.
The 1984 batch officer, who will retire in August, 2019, succeeds Rajiv Kumar, who attained superannuation on Saturday.
Formal orders for Pandey's appointment as Chief Secretary were issued on Wednesday last, but it came into effect from on Saturday.
However, Mr Pandey has superseded 14 senior IAS officers of the state UP cadre, in which several are still posted in the secretariat and could be working under a junior officer.
There were over a dozen IAS officers, who were in the race for the coveted post, but Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was keen on Mr Pandey's appointment.
Mr Pandey has spent a long time in UP, working on various levels and has a clean image and impeccable record.
He was the Director of Information department during the regime of Kalyan Singh in 1999 and later served as Private Secretary to Uma Bharti, who was Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Pandey is credited for successful implementation of three flagship programmes of the Yogi government.
First, he was instrumental in implementation of farm loan waiver scheme as Principal Secretary, Finance. Loan waiver was a major poll plank of BJP in 2017 Assembly elections.
It was an uphill task for the state government to mobilise resources for meeting additional expenditure of Rs 32,000, to finance the Bill of loan waiver.
Another feather in the cap for Mr Pandey was the successful organisation of the two-day 'UP Investors Summit’ in Lucknow on February 21-22, where MoUs for fresh investment worth Rs 4.28 lakh crore were signed.
One district, one product (ODOP) was another flagship programme of the Yogi government, which sought to promote one product in each district under MSME sector.
Given his service record and proximity to the Prime Minister's Office, outgoing Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar was likely to be picked up by the UP government as a chairperson of state RERA.
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