Punjab Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has responded to the controversy recently stirred up over the abolition of the Department of Administrative Reforms, of which he was in charge. The Punjab government recently said that the department “does not exist at the present time.”
When asked about the issue, Dhaliwal seemed to downplay the importance of the department’s existence and stressed his willingness to work for the betterment of Punjab. “They have now abolished the department. We have all come to save Punjab. For me, the department is not important; Punjab is important. Whether this department exists or not is not our agenda,” Dhaliwal said, as quoted by a news agency.
A notification by the government was also released to further elaborate on the status of the department. “In partial modification of Punjab Government Notification No. 2/1/2022-2Cabinet/2230 dated September 23, 2024, regarding allocation of portfolios amongst the Ministers, the Department of Administrative Reforms earlier allotted to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Cabinet Minister, is not in existence as on date,” the statement read.
Dhaliwal was assigned to this portfolio in May 2023 during a cabinet reshuffle after he was taken off the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare department but kept on as head of the NRI Affairs department. The agriculture portfolio was then handed over to Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has not wasted a chance to target the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “He controlled a department for 20 months which is ‘non-existent.’ It is only possible when the party in question is the Aam Aadmi Party.”
The government has also come under fire from BJP leader Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, who claimed that Punjab has actually gone backwards.
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