SS Sandhu is Uttarakhand chief secy; Gadkari hails his tenure as NHAI chief

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 5

Moments after Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Uttrakhand cadre, was appointed chief secretary of the state on Monday, the government hailed his tenure as chairman, National Highway Authority of India terming it “among the best ever”.

Sandhu, who has several feathers in his cap and has served in varied capacities at the Centre and in Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, was earlier conferred the President’s medal for his work as commissioner, municipal corporation, Ludhiana many years ago.

Crediting him for his NHAI tenure, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari today took to Twitter and said, “Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, IAS, Chairman, NHAI will now be serving the Government of Uttrakhand as its chief secretary. National highways witnessed a record award, construction and dispute resolution even during the challenging times of Covid 19 during his tenure. His tenure was among the best ever achieved in NHAI. His contribution for construction of oxygen plants across India will always be remembered.”

Gadkari also thanked Sandhu for “constant support towards the development of national highways” in clear recent trend of the Government publicly hailing the services of bureaucrats during Covid times.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally led the tributes for Guruprasad Mohapatra who as secretary to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade steered the availability of medical oxygen at the height of the second Covid 19 wave.

Sandhu had taken over as Chairman, NHAI, in October 2019.

He previously served as additional secretary, higher education, erstwhile Ministry of Human Resource Development. An MBBS from government medical college, Amritsar and masters in history from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Sandhu also holds a law degree.

“He has vast experience in the field of state roads, infrastructure development, PPP projects, finance, urban development, environment, health and family welfare, tourism, revenue administration, rural development, power, new and renewable energy, information technology, industries and science and technology. He has published papers on urban reforms and municipal management and capacity building,” a previous NHAI description states.

Sandhu earlier looked after technical education covering IITs, NITs and IIITs.