Soon after ten ministers in the new Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government took oath at the Punjab Civil Secretariat on Saturday, 19 March, the first meeting of the Cabinet passed a proposal to provide 25,000 new government jobs.
"The Cabinet has passed the proposal of providing a total of 25,000 government jobs, including 10,000 vacancies in the Punjab Police department and 15,000 vacancies in other government departments," Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said after the meeting.
The state government also appointed Dr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, a senior advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the new advocate general of the state.
New Punjab Cabinet Sworn In
"Today the new Cabinet of Punjab took oath and at the same time pledged to fulfill the expectations of the people. Congratulations to all the new ministers. We have to work together with full sincerity for the 3 crore people of Punjab, to make Punjab golden again," CM Mann had said earlier in the day.
The new ministers of the Punjab Cabinet are:
Harpal Singh Cheema, MLA from Dirba
Baljit Kaur, MLA from Malout
Harbhajan Singh ETO, MLA from Jandiala
Vijay Singla, MLA from Mansa
Lal Chand Kataruchak, MLA from Bhoa
Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, two-time MLA from Barnala
Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, MLA from Ajnala
Laljit Singh Bhullar, MLA from Patti
Brahm Shankar Jimpa, MLA from Hoshiarpur
Harjot Singh Bains, MLA from Anandpur Sahib
The ministers include one woman, four Scheduled Castes (SCs) and two Hindus. Eight out of the ten ministers in the cabinet are first-time legislators.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers in the Raj Bhawan.
Punjab's Governor Banwarilal Purohit administers oath to Gurmeet Singh during the oath-taking ceremony of Punjab Cabinet ministers.
(Photo: PTI)
Earlier in the week, the AAP government nominated party second-time legislator Kultar Singh Sandhwan as the speaker of the 117-member Assembly.
On 16 March, Bhagwant Mann took charge as the chief minister of Punjab after he AAP decimated the Congress party in the Assembly elections held in February, winning 92 out of 117 seats in a landslide mandate.
There are 18 berths in Punjab Cabinet, including the chief ministerial position.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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