Portfolios allocated, Haryana ministers get cracking

Following the allocation of portfolios, newly appointed ministers have begun outlining their top priorities for their respective departments. They are focusing on key issues within their sectors, setting clear agendas aimed at addressing public concerns and enhancing governance.

Shruti Choudhry

Women, Child Development, Irrigation & Water Resources

Potable water to all priority

The newly appointed Cabinet Minister on Monday held a meeting with the district administration and reviewed the ongoing works in the district. Shruti Choudhry said she had been given two key portfolios, and equitable distribution and availability of potable water in south Haryana and the rest of the state would be her priority. “I held a meeting with the district administration and reviewed the works. I want 100 per cent implementation of the schemes formed by the Centre and the state government,” she said. Shruti emphasised that there was a huge shortage of potable water in this region. Besides, there are issues related to drainage in the urban areas. I have given a month’s time to the district administration and submit a progress report on it,” she added.

Krishan Lal Panwar

Panchayat & Development, Mining & Geology

Will speed up work in villages

Cabinet Minister Krishan Lal Panwar on Monday held a first meeting with officials of the district administration and discussed an 11-point agenda with them in Panipat. Stressing development works have to done on priority, he said no laxity by an official would be tolerated. He also reviewed the paddy purchase and lifting status from the officers and directed them to visit sites and to ensure that there was no delay in lifting of the procured grain. Panwar said: “My first priority is to take carry out the development works in all villages on priority with the support of sarpanches, panches, block samiti members and Zila parishad members.” There are more than 6,000 panchayats in the state, and their issues would be resolved on priority.

Anil Vij

Energy, Transport & Labour

Better facilities at bus stands

Anil Vij boarded a roadways bus from Ambala Cantonment bus stand for Delhi soon after assuming the charge of the Transport Ministry on Monday. He inspected the Ambala Cantonment bus stand and suspended its incharge Ajit Singh over the poor condition of toilets. Sharing the priorities of his department with mediapersons, the Transport Minister said he would focus on improving the condition of bus stands and facilities for passengers across the state. The minister seemed to be in action mode as he also interacted with officials of the Power Department. He directed them to ensure there were no loose wires hanging anywhere in the state, electritcity poles in the middle of the roads and undercapacity transformers.

Krishan Bedi

Social Justice, Empowerment, SCs & BCs Welfare & Antyodaya, Hospitality & Architecture

All-round growth soon

Minister Krishan Bedi said a roadmap would soon be prepared for the all-round development of the Narwana constituency in Jind district. Bedi, who won from Narwana, said a mechanism had been initiated to redress the grievances of people from not only Narwana, but the entire Jind district. Bedi held a meeting with the district administration officials and urged them to listen to the grievances of the public and resolve them at the earliest. He said it was the mandate for the welfare policies of the BJP government as people had reposed faith in the party yet again. Bedi was an MLA from Shahbad in 2014-19 when he served as a minister in the Khattar government. The BJP shifted him to Narwana segment this time.

Ranbir Gangwa

Public Health Engineering & Public Works Department

Civic infra to be set in order

With the allocation of portfolios, Ranbir Gangwa has set the tone for the redress of grievances related to water supply, sewerage and drainage system, and broken roads. Stressing there would be no paucity of funds, Gangwa, an MLA from Barwala, has asked the Hisar district administration to undertake welfare projects. He said he was aware of the condition of the civic infrastructure related to sewerage and drainage in Hisar and Barwala, and would set it in order. Residents are hoping that civic infrastructure will transform not only these towns but also the entire district. The minister said while the old projects would be expedited, the government would also launch new ones soon. “The government would frame policies keeping in view the interest of every section of society,” he said.

Mahipal Dhanda

School Education, Higher Education, Archives & Parliamentary Affairs

State will be No. 1 in education

Cabinet Minister Mahipal Dhanda, after allocation of the portfolios, said as per the Niti Ayog, Haryana stood at the third position in education and his priority would be to make it number one by improving infrastructure, providing a better atmosphere in schools and bringing advanced technology and new techniques. The government schools would be made high-tech, Dhanda added. Apart from this, he said, the basic infrastructure in government schools and colleges — toilets, sports ground, classrooms, etc — would be ensured so that students could get a good atmosphere for education in their institutions. “New plans and schemes to improve the education standard all across the state is my one and only focus,” he asserted.

Vipul Goel

ULB, Revenue, Disaster Management, Civil Aviation

MCs will be made efficient

Spelling out his priorities, Vipul Goel said: “My top priority would be to resolve the civic crises gripping all districts. The star NCR districts — Gurugram and Faridabad — despite having the biggest Municipal Bodies are suffering the most. We will be soon implementing a revised action plan to not just make them more efficient but better on ground results.” He added from October 22, ‘samadhan shivirs’ in municipal bodies are starting and “I will ensure everybody who walks in with a complaint walks out with a solution”. “I will be working to ensure that revenue, civic services, etc., are more accessible to people and they get faster response and relief. Bringing in transparency and accountability would be top priority,” he said.

Rao Narbir

Industries & Commerce, Environment, Forest & Wildlife

Will restore Aravallis’ glory

Minister Rao Narbir has set his eyes on providing a conductive environment to the industry. “Industries and commerce are our financial backbone. Our Industrialists of various districts like Gurugram, Faridabad, Panipat have long list of woes and pending demands for the past five years. We will be taking them up on top priority,” he said. Getting more Foreign investment for state and improvising its stature in ease of doing business are also Narbir’s priorities. “Haryana will be the biggest foreign investment market. However, my key agenda right now will be Aravalli conservation and restoration. The forest is all encroached with illegal construction, mining and C and D waste. I will put an end to all this. We will be restoring Aravalis to former glory,” he said.

Arti Rao

Health, Medical Education and Research, Ayush

Will widen healthcare access

Arti Rao on Monday said her top priority would to be to provide affordable premium healthcare at grassroots levels. “I want to ensure that every single village, town and colony has access to healthcare. I want to increase the outreach of healthcare benefits to more sections of societies, especially women. In addition to this, we will be setting and stepping up government hospitals in the entire state. Each district will have a well-equipped multi-specialty civil hospital and improved secondary and tertiary care.” She stressed the government would fulfill its promise of ensuring a medical college in each district.

Gaurav Gautam

Youth empowerment, Entrepreneurship, Sports (Independent)

Young bizmen will be nurtured

Minister of State Gaurav Gautam has said his priority would be to make state the best in terms of startup enviroment. “Haryana has the biggest youth potential. We will start with what the youth actually want and deliver the same. We will be nurturing young entreprenurs to create the country’s best startup or entrepreneurship environs. Sports is the core of our state like agriculture. We will be working on providing uniform opportunities and facilities across the state and ensure that it is not concentrated to just one belt. We are the state of medals and this time we will strive to ensure every district gets one,” he said.

Rajesh Nagar

Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Printing & Stationery (Independent)

Focus on consumer courts

The newly elected minister has said consumer rights would be given priority by strengthening consumer courts andservice industry and cracking down on adultration. He said a meeting soon would be held to chalk out the way ahead. “In addition to strengtehning our ministries, we will be working on strengthening Faridabd further. “The district that has two ministers and we will work to resolve the civic crises here in addition to improving infrastructure . We will be making administration and government more accessible to people and ensure transparency accountability and resolution,” he said.

Arvind Sharma

Minister for Co-operation, Jails, Elections, Heritage & Tourism

Gohana will be made district

Cabinet Minister Arvind Sharma on Monday said his first priority is to fulfill the long-pending demand of making Gohana a district. He said he would review all the documents and plans to form Gohana district on priority. Sharma further said people in Gohana were facing a lot of problems on a daily basis due to frequent traffic jams and the railway crossing, and he would resolve them on priority. “I will ensure development works are carried out equitably all across the state under the leadership of CM Nayab Singh Saini so that Haryana fulfil the dream of ‘Viksit Bharat’ of PM Narendra Modi,” he said.

Contributed by Deepender Deswal, Sumedha Sharma, Mukesh Tandon & Nitish Sharma