Friday, April 1 2005 10:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: V K Duggal today (April 1, 2005) took over as the new Home Secretary and listed internal security, inter-State relations and disaster management as his areas of preference.

An IAS officer of the 1968 batch from Union Territory cadre, he took over the key post from Dhirendra Singh who retired today and was likely to be made as a member of Union Public Service Commission.

Duggal, who has been Water Resources Secretary since November 4, 2003 and will have a stint of seven months in office, led the Indian delegation to two-rounds of talks with Pakistan on the Baglihar power project.

In a brief interaction with the reporters, Duggal said he would continue with the "good work" of his predecessor.

"I will lay thrust on inter-State relation, disaster management and internal security," he added.