category Regional, chandigarh, , tags Regional, chandigarh, , DW BUREAU Chandigarh Senior IAS officer Anurag Verma took charge as the chief secretary of Punjab here on Saturday and said his top priority would be to provide a clean, efficient, responsive and transparent administration.He is the 42nd chief secretary of Punjab. Verma, a 1993-batch IAS officer, succeeded Vijay Kumar Janjua, who retired on June 30. Janjua and other IAS officers, including Malwinder Singh Jaggi, Kumar Rahul and Sonali Giri, were present at the Punjab Civil Secretariat when Verma took charge. Verma previously held the charge of additional chief secretary, home affairs and justice, along with some other additional charges. The IAS officer, who belongs to Patiala in Punjab, had earlier served as deputy commissioner of Bathinda, Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts. Verma said that under the guidance of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he will accord top priority to providing a clean, efficient, responsive and transparent administration, besides giving major thrust on health and education sectors and all-round development of the state. Replying to a question on the release of pending funds by the Centre, he said he was quite hopeful of convincing the Centre and getting the funds released for the state s development. Asked whether the state government will move the Supreme Court over the pending rural development fund, Verma said he just took over the charge and he can respond only after holding a meeting with administrative secretaries. The AAP government in Punjab has been accusing the BJP-led Centre of not releasing around Rs 3,500 crore of rural development fund. The state government has also been at loggerheads with the Centre over the alleged withholding of funds under the National Health Mission. The newly appointed chief secretary said he will discharge his duty with due diligence and devotion to ensure the well-being of every section of society. Punjab, being a border state and food bowl of the country, assumes a lot of significance for the entire country, he said, adding that with the support of all civil and police officers and government employees, Punjab will be made a front-ranking state in the country. A major thrust will also be laid on implementing the state government s citizen-centric and development-oriented policies with feedback from the ground level, he said. He said a viable mechanism will be evolved for resolving public grievances promptly. (editor dailyworld.in)