18 IAS, IPS, IFS officers among 20 district mentors appointed in J&K

Jammu, May 9: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has nominated 20 senior officers, including 18 Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, as mentors for the districts, in view of the prevailing situation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The nominations have been made through two separate orders issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) on May 8 and 9, 2025. As per order issued on May 8, senior IAS officers Shaleen Kabra, Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Jal Shakti Department for Jammu district; Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government, Agriculture Production Department for Poonch district; Sanjeev Verma, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Social Welfare Department for Kathua district and senior IPS officer Vikramjit Singh, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Industries and Commerce Department for Samba district will be mentors.

IAS officers Sarmad Hafeez, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Youth Services and Sports Department for Kupwara district; Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, Administrative Secretary, Labour and Employment Department for Baramulla district; Bhupinder Kumar, Secretary to the Government, Public Works (R&B) Department for Rajouri district and Owais Ahmed, Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation for Bandipora district have been nominated as district mentors. In continuation of Government Order No 572-JK(GAD) of 2025 dated May 8, senior IAS officers Shantmanu, Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Higher Education Department for Srinagar; H Rajesh Prasad, Principal Secretary to the Government, Power Development Department for Budgam; Santosh Dattatraya Vaidya, Principal Secretary to the Government, Finance Department for Pulwama; senior IFS officer Brij Mohan Sharma, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Culture for Ramban; senior IAS officers Saurabh Bhagat, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Science and Technology Department for Ganderbal and Sheetal Nanda, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment for Udhampur districts have been nominated as mentors.

Senior IAS officers Neeraj Kumar, Administrative Secretary, Transport Department for Kulgam; Prasanna Ramaswamy G, Secretary to the Government, Tribal Affairs Department for Shopian; Talat Parvez Rohella, Secretary to the Government, Planning, Development and Monitoring Department for Doda and Mohd Aijaz, Secretary to the Government, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for Kishtwar will be district mentors.

Senior Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officers Zubair Ahmad, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs for Anantnag and Babila Rakwal, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Cooperative Department for Reasi districts have been nominated as mentors.

The officers will be responsible for visiting the assigned district as often as possible; guiding the district administration in the ongoing relief, rescue and rehabilitation operations; reviewing and ensuring security of vital and vulnerable installations in the district and facilitating coordination between civil, police, army and all other agencies of the J&K Government and Government of India operating within the district.

They will also be responsible for reviewing and ensuring availability of essential services like drinking water, electricity, communication, road connectivity; reviewing and ensuring availability of essential commodities viz. food grains; vegetables; petrol, diesel and LPG etc and resolving issues faced by the district administration for which they may flag issues to the concerned departments in Civil Secretariat and the Office of Chief Secretary, if required.