TADEPALLI: Senior IAS officer Nilam Sawhney has been appointed as the Chief Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. She will replace Neerabh Kumar Prasad who was given additional charge, as the CS earlier. She will also be the first woman Chief Secretary of the newly formed State of Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation.

An order was issued by the General Administration Department on Wednesday appointing Sawhney, a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, to the top post. Sawhney was earlier serving as the Secretary of the department of Social Justice and Empowerment at the Centre in Delhi.

Senior IAS officer LV Subrahmanyam who was the chief secretary earlier was given the post of Director General of AP Human Resources Development Institute at Bapatla.

Nilam Sawhney hails from New Delhi and her husband Ajay Sawhney is also an IAS officer serving as Secretary in the Ministry of electronics and information technology.

Neelam Sawhney who took charge on Thursday afternoon, said that she was happy to re-serve the state under the able leadership of the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Speaking at the Secretariat she said that she was happy to join the same place from where she first joined services as the sub-collector of Krishna district. While reminiscing the past she said that she learnt a learn during her stint in her career in the State of Andhra Pradesh and life had taken a full circle and it was destiny that she had come to the same place where she first started her career from.

She also met the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his residence after taking charge of office.