LAHORE: Acting desperately, the Punjab government, being accused of inaction and inefficiency, on Friday changed almost the entire top bureaucracy in Punjab, including 31 secretaries (home and additional chief secretary among them), eight out of nine commissioners and 31 deputy commissioners.

Principal secretaries to the governor and the chief minister were also changed.

Political and administrative circles have been accusing Chief Minister Usman Buzdar of stalling activity in the province. Media has also been hinting at prime minister’s reported insistence to carry on with his hand-picked chief minister from south Punjab despite concerns being shown even within his party over the “slow motions” of the provincial PTI government.

Administrative officers and political circles termed Friday’s tsunami of reshuffle a mad rush to divert attention from the performance of the PTI political leadership. They also apprehended that changing of officials from one place to another would not do any good to the province or its people. If the changed deputy commissioners were not delivering at one place as to how some of them given the same posts in other districts would emerge as the “doers”.

Change of administrative officers at this scale is always witnessed in Pakistan on the arrival of a government of a party different from the outgoing set-up. The new set-up selects a team carefully and implements its policies while trusting it, making occasional adjustments when and where required. This time the sweeping change has been made by a government after completing just 15 months of its tenure.

Bureaucracy has been mentioning NAB interventions and lack of major initiatives by the provincial government as two central reasons for their lack of performance.

Insiders said that lists of new administrative and police team had already been made and they were shown to new Chief Secretary Azam Suleman when he called on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar earlier in the day.

Political observers termed the move an admission by the PTI Punjab government that it had not been able to effectively run the province. The Punjab chief secretary and the IGP have already been changed and sent to Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Governor’s Principal Secretary Babar Hayat Tarar was transferred and posted as BoR senior member/chief land commissioner vice Shaukat Ali who was posted as additional chief secretary vice Sardar Ajaz Ahmad Khan.

Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Dr Shoaib Akbar was recalled by the federal government and was granted a 90-day leave. He was replaced by Multan Commissioner Iftikhar Sahoo.

Specialised Healthcare Secretary Momin Agha was transferred and posted as additional chief secretary (home) vice Syed Ali Murtaza.

Mr Murtaza was transferred and posted as irrigation secretary vice Saif Anjum.

Livestock Secretary Nabeel Awan was transferred and posted as Specialised Healthcare secretary in place of Momin Agha.

Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture Sumaira Samad was transferred and posted as Literacy secretary. OSD retired Capt Muhammad Asif was posted as forest secretary.

Special Education Secretary Dr Rashid Mansoor was transferred and posted as Governor’s principal secretary.

Communication Secretary Tahir Khurshid was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He will be replaced by Asadullah Khan being sent to the provincial government.

Schools Secretary Irum Bukhari was transferred and posted as additional chief secretary (energy).

Literacy Secretary Arif Anwar Baloch was transferred and posted as additional chief secretary agriculture vice Ms Sumair Samad.

Urbanisation and Infrastructure Development Additional Chief Secretary Dr Raheel Siddiqui was transferred and posted as Chief Minister’s Inspection Team chairman. He will be replaced by Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh.

Social Welfare Secretary Ambreen Raza was transferred and posted as Women Development Department secretary vice Nabeel Javed.

Youth Affairs Secretary Nadeem Mahbub was transferred and posted as Housing Secretary vice Nasim Sadiq.

Environment Secretary Salman Ijaz was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Management and Professional Development

Department Secretary Saima Saeed.

Mines Secretary Amir Ijaz Akbar was transferred and directed to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Population Welfare Secretary Hassan Iqbal.

Prosecution Secretary Khalid Sherdil was transferred and posted as Management and Professional Development Department secretary. He was replaced by Women Development Department Secretary Nabeel Javed.

OSD Sheheryar Sultan was posted as Schools Secretary vice Irum Bukhari.

Awaiting posting, Gulzar Hussain Shah was posted as Auqaf secretary.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Saqib Zafar was posted as Energy secretary.

BoR Member (Consolidation) Waqas Ali Mahmood was transferred and posted as Food secretary vice Zafarullah Khan.

Energy Secretary Aamir Jan was transferred and posted as Population Welfare secretary.

Food Secretary Zafar Nasrullah Khan was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD.

Special Secretary Home Ehsan Bhutta was transferred and posted as Youth Affairs secretary.

Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission Commissioner Javed Iqbal Bukhari was posted as Special Education secretary.

Cooperatives Secretary Mansoor Qadir was asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Ahmad Raza Sawar being sent to Punjab.

Punjab Employees Social Security Institution Commissioner Saqib Manan was asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by OSD Tanwir Iqbal Tabassum.

Registrar Cooperative Societies Faisal Zahoor was asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by OSD Shahid Niaz.

Mines Director General Shaukat Khichi was asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board Managing Director Muhammad Akhtar.

Excise Director General Zahid Hussain was asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by OSD Suhail Shahzad.

LDA Director General Usman Moazzam was asked to report to the S&GAD . He was replaced by S&GA Additional Secretary Sumair Ahmad Syed.

Rawalpindi Development Authority DG Nadeem Ahmad Abro was asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Primary Healthcare Additional Secretary (Admn) Ammara Khan.

Primary Healthcare Additional Secretary Irfan Nawaz was transferred and posted as Punjab Food Authority DG relieving Secretary Primary Healthcare Capt (retd) Usman of the additional charge.

Commissioners: Irrigation Secretary Saif Anjum was posted as Lahore Commissioner vice Asif Balal Lodhi who was sent to the federal government.

OSD Dr Farah Masood was posted as Sargodha Commissioner vice Zafar Iqbal who was sent to the federal government.

Schools Education Department Special Secretary (Operations) Shanul Haq was posted as Multan Commissioner vice Iftikhar Ali Sahoo.

Dera Ghazi Khan Commissioner Mudassar Riaz malik was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Housing Secretary Nasim Sadiq.

Forest Secretary Capt Muhammad Mahmood (retd) was transferred and posted as Rawalpindi Commissioner vice Saqib Zafar.

Bahawalpur Commissioner Nayyar Iqbal was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by BoR’s Chief Settlement Commissioner Muhammad Asif Iqbal.

Sahiwal Commissioner Nadeemur Rehman was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Overseas Pakistanis Director General Ahsan Waheed.

Commissioner Faisalabad Mahmood Javed Bhatti was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Ishrat Ali, who is at the disposal of the provincial government.

Deputy Commissioners (DCs): Sheikhupura DC Tariq Mahmood Bukhari was transferred and directed to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by S&GAD’s Deputy Secretary (Establishment) Sidrah Unis.

Attock DC Ishrat Ullah Khan Niazi was transferred and directed to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Chief Minister Punjab’s Additional Secretary (Coordination) Ali Anan Qamar.

Okara DC Maryam Khan was transferred and posted in place of Mr Ali Anan. She was replaced by OSD Usman Ali.

Gujranwala DC Naila Baqir was transferred and directed to report to the S&GAD. She was replaced by Wildlife and Parks Director General Sohail Ashraf.

Sialkot DC Muhammad Umer Sher was transferred and posted as Mianwali DC. He was replaced by Mianwali DC Nasir Muhammad Basher.

Narowal DC Dr Muhammad Waheed Asghar was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Local Government Additional Secretary Mehr Shahid Zaman.

Chakwal DC Abdul Sattar was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by BoR Secretary (Colonies) Muhammad Zaman Wattoo.

Sargodha DC Asia Gul was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. She was replaced by Primary Healthcare Deputy Secretary (Admn) Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh.

Khanewal DC Ashfaq Ahmad was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Multan ADC (Revenue) Agha Zaheer Abbas Sherazi.

Sahiwal DC Dr Ehtesham Anwar was transferred and directed to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Layyah DC Zeeshan Javaid. Dera Ghazi Khan AC Coordination) Azfar Zia was posted as Layyah DC.

Vehari DC Irfan Ali Khan was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Dera Ghazi Khan DC Waqas Rashid. Tahir Farooq of the CM office was posted as Dera Ghazi Khan DC.

Rahim Yar Khan DC Jameel Ahmad Jameel was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Muzaffargarh DC Ali Shahzad. BoR’s Secretary (Revenue) Amjad Shoaib Khan Tareen was posted as Muzaffargarh DC.

Chiniot DC Aman Anwar Kedwai was transferred and asked to report to the S&GAD. He was replaced by Chief Minister’s Office Deputy Secretary Muhammad Riaz.

Rajanpur DC Afzal Nasir Khan was transferred and asked to report to the S&GA. He was replaced by Labour Department Additional Secretary Zulfiqar Ali.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2019