5 new Punjab ministers take oath after 4 are dropped from cabinet

Five new ministers were inducted into the Punjab Council of Ministers on Monday.

Hardeep Singh Mundian, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Tarunpreet Singh Sond, Ravjot Singh and Mohinder Bhagat were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.

It was a quiet and solemn ceremony at the Punjab Raj Bhawan, lasting 20 minutes, with most ministers, some MLAs, senior bureaucrats and families and friends of new inductees in attendance.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was present on the stage when the new ministers were called in for taking oath. After taking oath, the newly appointed ministers thanked the CM, hugged him and shook hands.

Mundian touched the feet of both the Governor and the CM to seek their blessings.

These ministers have been chosen after the AAP top brass did a thorough background check on the inductees, asking for a list of “honest MLAs” from their own party MPs and other senior leaders. Since the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared in June, there was a talk of a reshuffle in the cabinet.  

With this, the total number of ministers in the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab cabinet has reached 16. This still leaves two vacant berths in the Cabinet, leaving room for more inductions later. 

The decision to induct the new members was taken on Sunday after the party decided to remove four ministers (Balkaur Singh, Brahm Shankar Jimpa, Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Anmol Gagan Maan) from the cabinet. The four had submitted their resignations yesterday. 

Earlier in the day, Bhagwant Mann removed his Officer on Special Duty Prof Onkar Singh, reportedly after senior AAP MLA from Delhi Jarnail Singh had complained about the OSD to the CM, during the days of campaign for the Jalandhar bypoll.  

Onkar Singh, who hails from Lambi in Muktsar, had been appointed OSD to Chairman of Punjab Rural Development Board, a charge held by CM Mann. Before his appointment as OSD, he was working at Punjabi University, Patiala.

Singh was considered a close aide of Mann.

Portfolios

Bhagwant Mann

- GAD

- ⁠Home Affairs & Justice

- ⁠Personnel

- ⁠Co- Operation

- ⁠Legal & Legislative Affairs

- ⁠Civil Aviation

- ⁠Science Technology & Environment

- ⁠Sports & Youth Services

Harpal Cheema

Finance

Planning

Program implementation

Excise & Taxation

Aman Arora

New & Renewable Energy sources

Printing & Stationary

Governor reforms and removal of grievances

Employment generation & Training

Dr Baljit Kaur

Social Justice Empowerment & Minorities

Social security women & child development

Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal

NRI affairs

Administrative reforms

Dr Balbir

Health & Family welfare

Medical education & research

Elections

Hardeep Singh Mundian

- Revenue, Rehabilitation & disaster management

- ⁠water supply & sanitation

- ⁠Housing & Urban development

Lal Singh Kataruchak

- Food civil supplies & consumer affairs

- ⁠forests

- ⁠wild life

Lal jit Singh Bhullar

- Transport & Jails

Harjot Singh Bains

- Technical education and industrial Training

- ⁠Higher education

- ⁠school education

- ⁠Information & Public Relations

Harbhajan Singh ETO

- Power

- ⁠Public works (B&R)

Barinder Kumar Goyal

- Mines & Geology

- ⁠water resources

- ⁠Conservation of Land and water

Tarunpreet Singh Sond

- Tourism & Culture affairs

- ⁠investment promotion

- ⁠labour

- ⁠hospitality

- ⁠Industry and commerce

- ⁠rural development & Panchayats

Dr Ravjot Singh

- Local Govt

- ⁠Parliamentary affairs

Gurmeet Singh Khudian

- Agriculture & Farmers welfare

- ⁠Animal Husbandry & Fisheries and dairy development

- ⁠food processing

Mohinder Bhagat

- Defence services welfare

- ⁠  Freedom fighters

- ⁠Horticulture