Lucknow, Jun 29 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday named Rajiv Kumar as the new Chief Secretary of the state.

He replaces Rahul Prasad Bhatnagar, who was appointed by the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government and continued in that post for the three months by the Yogi Adityanath government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government also effected three other changes in the bureaucracy.

Bhatnagar, the outgoing Chief Secretary, has been appointed the new Chairman of the Greater Noida Authority and also the Investment Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh in New Delhi.

Prabhat Kumar, the Divisional Commissioner of Meerut, who was holding the additional charge as the Chairman of Greater Noida Authority, has now been relieved of this charge. He, however, will continue to be the Chairman of the Yamuna Expressway Authority.

Debashish Panda, who served for a very long time as the Principal Secretary (Home) during the Samajwadi Party regime and is currently posted as the Investment Commissioner and Resident Commissioner in New Delhi and also holds the charge of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Greater Noida, has been divested of his charge as the Investment Commissioner but would continue with his other responsibilities, an official spokesman said.