Chandigarh, March 19
Ten MLAs, including a woman, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab Cabinet here on Saturday. Seven berths have been left vacant for expansion later.
Those sworn in were Harpal Cheema, Dr Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh ETO, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand Kataruchak, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Brahm Shankar and Harjot Singh Bains, the youngest in the Cabinet.
Other than Cheema and Gurmeet Hayer, who have been re-elected for the second term, all other ministers are first-time MLAs. Sources said it was after several rounds of meetings between the party top brass in Delhi and Mann that the list of ministers was cleared.
The oath was administered by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the recently built Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan on the Punjab Raj Bhavan premises. All ministers took oath in Punjabi. They first shook hands or wished Chief Minister Mann and then sought the blessings of the Governor. The Governor of Haryana, Bandaru Dattatreya, too graced the occasion.
The ceremony was sombre and had the “aam aadmi” effect. Unlike in the past, there were no sycophants hovering around the ministers and their families. The newly formed Cabinet held a meeting soon after the swearing-in. It decided to immediately fill 25,000 vacancies in the government sector, including in various boards and corporations. Of the 25,000 vacancies, 10,000 would be filled in the Punjab Police and the remaining 15,000 in other government departments. The Cabinet also cleared the presentation of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2021-22 to be presented in the ensuing Vidhan Sabha session. The decision would provide budget for additional or excess expenditure incurred by various departments during the financial year to liquidate the pending liabilities. Further, the Cabinet gave approval to present supplementary demands for grants for 2021-22. It also gave approval for presentation of vote-on-account from April 1 to June 30 for the financial year 2022-23, which is likely to be presented in the House on March 22.
