Chandigarh, March 12
The Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, today reallocated the portfolios of some of his Council of Ministers to accommodate the new entrants, two Cabinet Ministers and three Ministers of State as well as three Parliamentary Secretaries.
As per the new allocation, the Chief Minister has taken away Industries from Mr Avtar Henry and kept it with him. Mr Henry now gets Food and Supplies, earlier held by Mr Lal Singh. He will, however, continue to hold Finance and Planning and in addition has been given Co-operation.
The Department of Higher Education and Languages goes to the new incumbent, Mr Harnam Das Johar, and now Mr Khushal Behl will look after only School Education. The second Cabinet Minister, Mr Joginder Singh Mann is the Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Social Security and Development of Women and Children, held earlier by Chaudhary Santokh Singh, who stands shifted to Medical Education and Research.
Of the three Ministers of State, Mr Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa gets Grievances, besides being attached to Mr Raghunath Sahai Puri for Housing and Urban Development. Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi gets Jails and Mr Darbari Lal becomes Minister for School Education and is attached to Mr Behl.
All three Parliamentary Secretaries are attached to the Chief Minister — Mr Kanwaljit Singh Lally for Defence Services Welfare, Mr Ravinder Singh Sandhu, alias Bubble, for NRIs Department and Mr Hans Raj Josan for Civil Aviation. Among the old Parliamentary Secretaries, Mr G.S. Atwal gets Industries and is attached to the Chief Minister.
Mr Ashwani Sekhri, a Minister of State, is now attached for Health and Family Welfare to the Cabinet Minister, Mr R.C. Dogra and also Cabinet Minister, (Transport) Tej Parkash Singh.
Another Minister of State, Mr Harbans Lal, is attached to Mr Lal Singh for Co-operation and Mr Ramesh Dutt Sharma is attached to Chaudhary Jagjit Singh for Labour and Employment. Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, as a Cabinet Minister, holds the portfolio of Local Government, Parliamentary Affairs and Labour and Employment.
