NEW DELHI, July 31: Punjab-cadre IAS officer Arun Goel today took over as the vice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), ending a month-long vacancy of the urban body's top post.
The 1985-batch officer, posted with the DDA as Additional Secretary, took over as Vice-chairman this morning, a senior DDA official said.
Prior to his joining DDA, Goel was Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance (since June 2012) and on his promotion as Additional Secretary has been posted in DDA.
Goel, a postgraduate in Development Economics from University of Cambridge, England with distinction, succeeds IAS officer Balvinder Kumar, who was tranferred to Ministry of Mines on July 1, following which the post had fallen vacant.
The senior bureaucrat has worked in various departments like Ministry of Urban Development as Joint Secretary, Principal Secretary to Punjab government, Department of Irrigation and Power and Department of Housing and Urban Development, Managing Director, Punjab State Industries and Export Corporation, Managing Director, Punjab Warehousing Corporation, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, the official said.
Goel has a considerable experience in urban development in Punjab government and also in the Union ministry of Urban Development, the official said.
The new vice-chairman plans to improve public interface by revisiting procedures of various transactions of DDA and also by making the housing authority more responsive and accountable through regular feedback.
DDA had launched the biggest-ever housing scheme in its history during Kumar's tenure after he joined the urban body in January last.
"I am sure that whoever succeeds me will carry forward the work done so far. As for the future of DDA, I would say that the three policies brought in during my tenure - land- pooling, transit-oriented development (TOD) and redevelopment - should be taken up for building high-quality infrastructure," Kumar had said after his transfer.
