Bhubaneswar: Senior IAS officer Hemant Sharma on Friday assumed charge as Additional Chief Secretary (Home), asserting that maintaining law and order and implementing the Chief Minister’s directives would be his top priorities.
Speaking to the media after taking over, Sharma thanked Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for entrusting him with the crucial responsibility. He said ensuring the safety and security of every citizen in the state would remain his foremost focus. “Odisha is a peace-loving state. Our effort will be to ensure that people continue to feel safe and secure,” he said.
Highlighting key areas of focus, Sharma said steps would be taken to strengthen policing at the grassroots level. This would include infrastructure development of police stations and outposts, filling vacant posts, and reinforcing the overall capacity of the police force across the state.
Referring to recent policy directions, Sharma said the Chief Minister had issued important instructions during the Police Superintendents’ Conference and also rolled out a comprehensive 15-point guideline on Thursday. “I will work in accordance with those directives,” he added.
Hemant Sharma, a 1995-batch IAS officer, is currently serving as Additional Chief Secretary of the Industries, Information and Public Relations departments, and continues to hold the additional charge of Chairman of the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL).
Notably, the state government carried out a reshuffle at the senior administrative level on the first day of the New Year, during which Sharma, was assigned the additional responsibility of the Home Department.
