The West Bengal government has reassigned 23 police officers, including senior officials in Kolkata Police, ahead of the municipal polls, according to a transfer notification issued on Friday. The changes include new appointments for the city’s additional police commissioner, joint commissioner of traffic and joint commissioner of security.
Devendraprakash Singh, who was serving as additional commissioner of Kolkata Police, has been appointed inspector general of the Intelligence Branch in North Bengal. Sudhirkumar Neelakantam, previously the inspector general of the Special Task Force, will take charge as additional commissioner of Kolkata Police.
The notification also names new officers for key Kolkata security and traffic responsibilities. Sukhend Hira, a 2009-batch IPS officer who was serving as deputy inspector general of security in the state police, has been appointed joint commissioner of police (security) in Kolkata.
IPS officer Bholanath Pandey will become Kolkata’s new joint commissioner of traffic. He was previously serving as deputy inspector general of the Intelligence Branch in the state police. Surya Pratap Yadav, who held the post of joint commissioner of traffic, has been appointed deputy inspector general of the Intelligence Branch.
The reshuffle also affects the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate. Kuntal Bandyopadhyay has been appointed deputy commissioner there. The transfer order covers officers beyond Kolkata and South Bengal, with several changes reported in North Bengal police districts and headquarters.
Among the North Bengal appointments, Kaustavdipta Acharya, additional superintendent of police in Darjeeling, has been transferred to the additional superintendent of police post at Jaigaon in Alipurduar. Officer Salima Lama has been appointed additional superintendent of police at Alipurduar headquarters.
Purnima Sherpa will become the new additional superintendent of police in Kalimpong. Kunal Barnabas, who was serving as additional superintendent of police in Kalimpong, has been appointed additional superintendent of police in Malda.
The changes include both IPS officers and West Bengal Civil Service officers. For Kolkata residents, the most immediate operational change will be in traffic leadership, while the appointments in security and the Intelligence Branch alter the senior command structure overseeing policing and coordination. The notification did not specify a separate implementation schedule in the report.
