Assam: Aranyak Saikia moves to Nagaon as DC, Kriti Chachra gets Karbi Anglong charge

The Assam government has carried out a key district-level administrative reshuffle, appointing 2020-batch IAS officer Aranyak Saikia as the new District Commissioner of Nagaon and moving 2021-batch officer Kriti Chachra to Karbi Anglong.

According to a notification issued by the Personnel Department on September 3, Saikia, who was serving as District Commissioner of Karbi Anglong, has been transferred and posted as District Commissioner of Nagaon.

Saikia took charge as the Karbi Anglong DC in December 2025 after serving as Staff Officer to the Chief Secretary, Assam. He had earlier worked as Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil), Gossaigaon, and as an Assistant Commissioner in Nagaon.

His move to Nagaon comes shortly after the state government accepted the voluntary retirement request of the district's previous DC, Debashish Sharma. Sharma had been serving as Nagaon's administrative head for several months after being appointed to the post in the December 2025 reshuffle.

Saikia's tenure in Karbi Anglong included overseeing preparations for the 2026 Assembly elections, with the district recording a turnout of nearly 80 per cent. He also handled district-level preparations for Census 2027 and was involved in reviews concerning education, healthcare, road safety, agriculture and heritage conservation.

He had also recently chaired a district-level committee meeting under the 'Amar Mati Amar Nayak' initiative and reviewed the functioning of an Ekalavya Model Residential School in Howraghat, just days before the transfer order.

Kriti Chachra, a 2021-batch IAS officer, has been transferred from the Department of Housing & Urban Affairs and posted as District Commissioner of Karbi Anglong.

Chachra has been associated with Assam's urban administration, including work linked to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation. She has also served as State Mission Director of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) in Assam and appeared before the National Green Tribunal in matters concerning the state's compliance with solid and liquid waste management requirements.

The officer was earlier posted as Deputy Secretary in the Housing & Urban Affairs Department and Joint Commissioner in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation. She was subsequently allowed to officiate as Joint Secretary in the department.

The latest appointments will bring Saikia to Nagaon after a relatively short stint in Karbi Anglong, while Chachra will take over the administration of the hill district at a time when the district is handling ongoing development, infrastructure and welfare-related programmes.