KATHMANDU: Prime Minister (PM) Balendra Shah has reshuffled the responsibilities of members of his Secretariat team, removing some from their positions and promoting others, effective Sunday.
Madhav Khanal has been removed from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, while the responsibilities of Deepa Dahal, Bishwa Rai and Sanjiv Pandey have been changed.
Deepa Dahal, who was previously appointed as a Press and Research Expert, has now been assigned the responsibility of Media Management Coordinator. Similarly, Engineer Sanjiv Pandey has been appointed Development and Ministry-level Coordination Coordinator, while Bishwa Rai has been made Social Development Coordination Coordinator.
All three had initially joined the Prime Minister’s Secretariat as experts. However, effective Sunday, they have been designated as coordinators and co-coordinators. Details of the changes have also been published on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
A member of the Prime Minister’s advisory team said that Prime Minister Shah himself had instructed officials to change the responsibilities of some secretariat members and remove others from service.
A performance review was conducted, following which some of those who performed better were promoted, while the responsibilities of others were changed or reduced, according to sources.
Despite being removed from their positions as experts, some appear to have retained their previous responsibilities. Meanwhile, Shah’s personal secretaries and five advisers have retained their existing positions. They include Chief Adviser Kumar (Ben) Byanjanakar, Political Adviser Asim Shah, Health Adviser Prof. Dr. Jagadish Prasad Agrawal, Policy, Administration and Good Governance Adviser Sudip Dhakal, and Information and Communication Technology Adviser Bibek Mishra.
Similarly, Chief Personal Secretary Subash Sharma and Personal Secretary Navin Bhandari have also retained their positions.
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