Bengaluru: Soon after cabinet formation, the BJP government swung into action on Thursday carrying out a major revamp in the state bureaucracy bringing in 1987-batch IAS officer and additional chief secretary, B.H. Anil Kumar as BBMP commissioner in place of N. Manjunath Prasad who has been shunted out without any posting.
The Bangalore Water Supply And Sewerage Board (BWSSB) too got a new chairman, M. Maheshwara Rao, who was earlier secretary, industry and commerce while Harsh Gupta who was housing secretary, has been made Bengaluru Regional Commissioner.
The exact reason why Mr Manjunath Prasad was transferred is not known but it could be because he has served in the prestigious post for too long. He was appointed BBMP commissioner in April, 2016 but during the May 2018 assembly elections, the Election Commission of India transferred him on finding serious lapses and appointed Mr Maheshwara Rao as BBMP commissioner. After the elections, Mr Prasad was brought back as commissioner.
There were unsubstantiated charges against Mr Prasad that he had discriminated against MLAs and corporators belonging to the BJP while releasing funds for development.
The Indira Canteen scheme for supply of subsidised food and the white topping project for city roads, launched during Mr Prasad’s tenure were two projects which came under criticism.
He is said to be a close to Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
