BackAtanu Chakraborty named as new DGH chief
Chakraborty has been appointed for a four-year term in the rank of additional secretary as chief of DGH
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Ahmedabad: The government has named Atanu Chakraborty, managing director of Gujarat State Petroleum Corp., as the director general of Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH).
DGH is the oil ministry’s technical advisory arm for exploration and production that oversees multi-billion dollar exploration programmes of private and public sector companies.
A 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Gujarat cadre, Chakraborty’s appointment comes after several months of search by the ministry for suitable candidate to fill the post, which fell vacant after B.N. Talukdar retired in July.
Chakraborty has been appointed for a four-year term in the rank of additional secretary as chief of DGH, said an order issued by the appointments committee of the cabinet headed by the Prime Minister on Wednesday.
Chakraborty did not respond to calls or messages to his cellphone.
He will take charge in the next one or two months, said a Gujarat government official aware of the development.
Currently Ajay Prakash Sawhney, additional secretary in the oil and gas ministry, holds the additional charge of DGH.
The petroleum ministry had earlier proposed to open the post of DGH for candidates from the private sector. However, this proposal was turned down as it faced opposition from other departments.
Chakraborty is an electronics and communication engineering graduate. He also has a post graduate diploma in business finance and an MBA from the UK.
In Gujarat, Chakraborty has served several departments including finance, ports, home and labour.
DGH has been traditionally headed by a technocrat. However, Rajiv Nayan Choubey, a 1981-batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre was appointed as its head in 2012 by the then petroleum minister S. Jaipal Reddy.
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