Tripura gets new chief secretary

Agartala, July 31 (IANS) G. Kameswara Rao Thursday took over as new chief secretary of Tripura.

He succeeded Sanjay Kumar Panda, who will join the central government as secretary of the textiles ministry.

An Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer of the 1983 batch, Rao, before joining the new post was the additional chief secretary, will now look after the home, public works department and general administration department, an official notification said.

Panda, who left Thursday for New Delhi to join his new posting, said that out of his 34-years of service, he spent 20 years in the northeastern state.

"Tripura could be one of the best states in India, if the human resources are developed and utilised properly," said Panda, who served as Tripura chief secretary from April 2010.