CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr. Surjit Singh Bamala, expanded his six member Cabinet to make it eleven member strong, Five new MLA’s who have been included are Mr. Such a Singh Chottepur, Gurdaspur Distr., Natha Singh Zalam, Gurdaspur Distr., Mr. Kartoori Lal, Bathinda Distr., Mr. Harbajan Singh Sanddbu, Amritsar Dist., and Mr, Shashpal Singh, Amritsar Distr. All the new entrants to the council of Ministers are Ministers of State. ‘Mr. Such a Singh Chottepur has been given independent charge of Tourism, while he has been attached with the health Minister for Health, Mr. Zalam has been given Public Relations, as independent charge as well as of election and has been attached with the Finance Minister for finance, Mr. Kastori Lal has been given charge of Labour and Employment department. For Local Bodies he has been attached with the Chief Minister. Mr. Sashpal Singh has been given charge of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries as independent charge while he will assist the Education Minister in respect of education Mr. Sandhu gets Technical education and Industrial training independently in respect of Agriculture he will assist the agriculture Minister Mr. Amarinder Singh. None of the new entrants ‘belongs to the Long group except for Mr. Natha Singh Zalam and ‘Sashpal Singh who were previously associated with Parkash Singh Badal. Itis well known in political circles that neither Mr. Parkash Singh Badal nor Mr. Gurcharan Singh Tohra has been taken into confidence while expanding the ministry.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 7, 1986
