Bhubaneswar, December 24: In a landmark development in the State’s administrative history, senior IAS officer Anu Garg has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Odisha, becoming the first woman to hold the top post in the State.
A 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Odisha cadre, Garg will succeed incumbent Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, who retires on December 31.
Garg brings with her over three decades of wide-ranging administrative experience at the district, State, and national levels.
She is currently serving as the Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary, handling key departments including Water Resources and Planning & Convergence.
She has earlier served as Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, Principal Secretary in departments such as Women & Child Development and Labour & ESI.
She started her career as a Sub-Collector in Jharsuguda. She also had served as the Collector of Sambalpur and Bargarh, as well as Additional District Magistrate and Sub-Collector in Kalahandi.
During her Central deputation, she has worked in various capacities under the Government of India, including as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. She During her tenure on central deputation, Garg served as a Joint Secretary in the PMO from October 2012 to April 2015.
An alumna of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, Garg holds a Master’s degree from the University of Lucknow and a Master of Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
She was one of the members of the High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) for Universal Health Coverage instituted by the Planning Commission in October 2010, which submitted its report in November 2011.
