Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has carried out a major reshuffle in the Forest Department, transferring and appointing several Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) and senior Odisha Forest Service (OFS) officers across the state.

The transfers were announced by the Forest, Environment and Climate Change (FE&CC) Department through an official notification issued on Saturday. The order, issued in the name of the Governor, has come into immediate effect.

DFOs and OFS officers' new positions following reshuffle

As per the notification, Bhubaneswar City Forest Division DFO Biswaraj Panda has been transferred and posted as the new DFO of Subarnapur Forest Division. Aditya Narayan Sethi has been appointed as the new DFO of City Forest Division, Bhubaneswar.

Former Rourkela Forest Division DFO Jashabanta Sethi has been posted as DFO of Bonai Forest Division, while Pravakar Senapati has been appointed DFO of Phulbani (KL) Division.

Ajay Kumar Sahoo, who was serving as Divisional Manager (DM) of OFDC Rairkhol Division, has been transferred as DFO of Karanjia Forest Division. Similarly, Subhendu Kumar Behera has been appointed DFO of Bolangir (KL) Division.

In another key change, Arun Kumar Biswal, who was serving as Silviculturist at Rayagada, has been posted as DFO of Bhadrak Wildlife Division. K.V. Bhaskar Rao has been transferred as the new Silviculturist at Rayagada.

The FE&CC Department has also reassigned several senior officers to administrative positions. Pratap Behera has been posted as Deputy Conservator of Forests (Dy.CF) in the FE&CC Department, while Sasmita Lenka has been appointed as Divisional Manager of Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) Ltd.

Jitendra Behera has been transferred as Deputy CF in the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) & Head of Forest Force (HoFF), Odisha. Prafulla Kumar Mallick has also been posted as Dy.CF in the PCCF & HoFF office.

Besides, Kandan Singh has been transferred and posted as DM of Jeypore (CKL) Division.

The notification, signed by the Additional Secretary of the FE&CC Department, stated that all postings would remain effective until further orders.