Navneet Kumar Sehgal resigns as Prasar Bharati Chairman

Sehgal, a 1988 batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, was appointed Chairman of Prasar Bharati on March 16, 2024. His resignation brings an early close to his tenure at India’s public service broadcaster, where he was overseeing organisational reform and long-term strategic planning.

A senior bureaucrat with more than 35 years in government service, Sehgal has held several influential assignments at both the Centre and the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Known for leading large infrastructure and policy projects, he served as Chairman and CEO of the UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority and supervised the construction of the 302 kilometre Agra-Lucknow expressway within 22 months.

He also served as Principal Secretary for key state departments including Tourism, where he initiated several site development projects, and MSME, where he led the rollout of the One District One Product programme, which later became one of Uttar Pradesh’s most recognisable initiatives.

Sehgal has significant experience in media management and public communication. He spent more than 15 years handling public relations for the Uttar Pradesh government, including as Secretary to the Chief Minister and as Principal Secretary for the Information and Publicity Department. During this period, he led multiple government campaigns on public awareness and development programmes.

As Secretary for Energy in Uttar Pradesh, he played a key role in the privatisation of power distribution in Agra, which was the first such effort in North India. He was also involved in the planning of nearly 30000 MW of power generation capacity for the state and supervised the preparation of the Detailed Project Report for the Lucknow Metro by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

His career also includes work on major PPP projects and international collaborations, including a JICA-assisted water supply pipeline from Bulandshahr to Agra. In tourism, he negotiated a World Bank development loan for upgrading key sites across the state.

Sehgal retired from the IAS in July 2023 as Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Uttar Pradesh before taking charge at Prasar Bharati the following year.

The government is expected to begin the process of identifying his successor.