Patiala’s civil servant rises to become Punjab’s Chief Secretary
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ June 26,2023
Punjab government today issues an appointment order of Anurag Verma, IAS of 1993 batch as the new chief secretary of the state.He would be the 42nd incumbent to serve on the prestigious post.
Presently Anurag Verma is the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Affairs & Justice and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Legal and Legislative Affairs and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Investment Promotion.
The incumbent chief secretary VK Janjua is going to retire on June 30, 2023.
Anurag Verma has superseded seven IAS officers. After the posting of 1993 batch IAS officer as the new chief secretary of the state, Punjab government has accorded special chief secretary status to Anirudh Tiwari, IAS (1990), Anurag Agarwal, IAS (1990), A. Venu Prasad, IAS (1991), Seema Jain, IAS (1991), Sarvjit Singh, IAS (1992), Raji P. Shrivastava, IAS (1992), K A P Sinha, IAS (1992).
Patiala’s civil servant rises to become Punjab’s Chief Secretary. Anurag Verma has an illustrious career of 30 years. After rendering excellent and efficient services as Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts during the field posting, he also excelled while discharging his duty in various departments at the Head Office.
As Special Secretary Revenue, he took the exceptional initiative of computerization of revenue land records and introduction of Fard Kendras in the state. He also played an important role in increasing the revenue due to his efficiency and hard working nature while serving as Excise and Taxation Commissioner, making tax payment easy and transparent for people being his crowning achievements.
Anurag Verma did his schooling from Patiala’s first co-ed school established after India’s Independence, Modern Secondary School (now Modern Senior Secondary School) in 1984. Then he took admission in Non-Medical in the oldest college of the region Govt Mohindra College, Patiala. In 1986, after clearing his pre-engineering he got admission in another prestigious college of the region Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala. There he did his bachelor in engineering (BE) in Electronics and Communication and in 1990 he passed out from TIET. For a short term he remained Lecturer and in 1993 he cracked civil services and allotted Punjab cadre.
Born in a family of academicians at Patiala, Verma’s father served as the Professor of Chemistry at Govt Mohindra College and his mother as English teacher. His native village is Chalela in Patiala district. A Gold Medalist from the Thapar College, Patiala in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Verma bagged overall 7th rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examination in 1993.
