Manoj Ahuja takes charge as new chief secretary of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Senior IAS officer Manoj Ahuja on Sunday took charge as the chief secretary of Odisha.

He assumed charge from Pradeep Kumar Jena who retired from service during the day.

“I welcome Manoj Ahuja, one of my good friends from the 1990 batch (from my Kalahandi days) my successor Sub-collector Dharamgarh & I’m happy to have been succeeded by him today to hold the post of @SecyChief. Wish him all the best,” Jena said in a post on X.

Soon after assuming charge of the office of chief secretary, Ahuja visited Lord Jagannath temple in Puri and offered prayers before ‘Patidians’ (replica of Lord Jagannath) as the deities now stay on ‘Anasara’ (quarantine) after taking bath on Snana Purnima.

Ahuja was on central deputation and had served as the secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of the Union government from April 1, 2022.

On the request of the Odisha government, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had on June 25 approved the repatriation of Ahuja to his parent cadre.

Ahuja holds a B.E. (Mechanical) degree, an MBA from Punjab University and a master’s in Public Administration (International Development) from Harvard University, USA.