Photo Credit: Indiatimes

New Delhi: Rajiv Bansal, the Additional Secretary and the Financial Advisor of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has been appointed as the interim CMD of Air India after Ashwani Lohani took over as the Railway Board Chairman. He will be serving this additional charge for three months or until further orders.

An official statement said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Bansal's appointment. Bansal is a 1988 batch IAS officer from Nagaland cadre.

The previous Railway Board Chairman, AK Mittal, resigned after taking moral responsibility for the recent train derailments. He submitted his resignation letter to the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday.

The announcement by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet came hours after Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu indicated he had offered his resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the accidents.