CHANDIGARH: A day after his nearly three-month-old government's first cabinet expansion, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday assigned portfolios to the five newly appointed ministers and changed the assignments of some others. The chief minister also gave up some of the major departments that he had previously handled, notably agriculture, to other ministers.
Chetan Singh Jauramajra, one of the recently appointed ministers, has got the crucial Health department, while Aman Arora will oversee Housing and Urban Development. It was given to Anmol Gagan Mann to handle tourism and cultural affairs. Chief Minister Mann provided information about the ministers' assigned ministries in a tweet.
On Monday, Mann extended his cabinet and appointed five AAP MLAs as ministers in the Punjab government. Notably, the AAP swept to power in the state during the assembly elections earlier this year, and this was the Mann-led government's first cabinet expansion.
Arora got the portfolio of Housing and Urban Development, New and Renewable Energy Resources, and Information and Public Relations in accordance with the portfolios that were assigned. The departments of Local Government, Parliamentary Affairs, Land Conservation and Water, and Administrative Reforms will be under the direction of Dr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar.
Minister of Freedom Fighters, Defense Services Welfare, Food Processing, and Horticulture will be Fauja Singh. Departments for medical education and research and health and family welfare have been allocated to Jauramajra.
Anmol Gagan Mann, the second woman to be appointed a cabinet minister in the Mann-led government, will serve as the minister for labour, investment promotion, tourism and cultural affairs, and grievance redress.
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