Ludhiana: Days after Damanjit Singh Mann took charge as municipal commissioner, the state govt has carried out a sweeping reshuffle in Ludhiana MC, shifting several senior officers and bringing in new faces in a shake-up that has substantially recast the civic body’s engineering and administrative wings.The engineering branch has seen some of the biggest changes, with four superintending engineers (SEs) transferred out of Ludhiana. Praveen Kumar Singla and Sham Lal Gupta have been posted to Jalandhar, Ranjit Singh to Patiala and Harkiranpal Singh to Moga.Sandeep Singh Romana, earlier posted in Bathinda, has been brought to Ludhiana, while Rajneesh Dogra from Jalandhar and Mandeep Singh from Kapurthala are also among officers being posted to the city.The administrative set-up, too, has undergone a shake-up. Assistant commissioner Neeraj Jain has been transferred to Barnala and Jasdev Singh Sekhon to Amritsar, while a new officer is expected to join Ludhiana MC shortly.The transfers of joint commissioners Amanpreet Singh and Vineet Kumar have further altered the senior administrative team. Joint commissioner Tapan Bhanot is among the few senior officers continuing in Ludhiana.There has also been a churn at the executive engineer level. Sanjeev Sharma, who was posted in Bathinda, has been brought to Ludhiana as corporation engineer (civil), while Arvind Kumar has been transferred to Patiala and Raman Kaushal to Moga.Ranbir Singh, earlier posted in Jalandhar and holding additional charge of Phagwara, has been brought to Ludhiana as corporation engineer (O&M).In another key change, Surjit Singh Cheema will take over as municipal secretary of Ludhiana while also holding additional charge of Patiala.The building branch faces a vacancy at the top after the additional charge of Ludhiana held by Abohar municipal town planner Vijay Kumar was withdrawn. He will continue in Abohar, while no replacement for Ludhiana has been announced yet.The scale of the reshuffle puts the spotlight on continuity in civic works, particularly in the engineering and O&M wings. Incoming officers will have to quickly get up to speed on ongoing projects, pending files, estimates and execution-related issues.For the MC, the immediate challenge will be ensuring that the change of guard does not slow ongoing development works or affect routine civic services.
