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LAHORE: Criticised by the opposition and questioned by the media for keeping many ministries and departments under himself, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has decided to share some of his responsibilities with colleagues in the cabinet.
But he has kept with himself the ministry of health which has taken a lot of flak because of the death of over 100 cardiac patients over the past 10 days. He has given the charge of various portfolios to ministers and advisers instead of expanding the cabinet, to the disappointment of many of his party’s MPAs who were hoping to get a cabinet slot.
Interestingly, some unelected advisers to the chief minister have been made caretakers of a few departments.
A Punjab government spokesperson said Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan had been given the additional charge of the local government, Agriculture Minister Ahmed Ali Aulakh of communications and works, Planning and Development Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor of power department and Auqaf Minister Ehsanuddin Qureshi of housing and urban planning.
Senator Pervaiz Rashid will look after the information department, former provincial police chief Jehanzeb Burki prosecution, former principal secretary to prime minister Saeed Mehdi management and professional development and Adviser Manshaullah Butt will be taking care of the food and environment departments.
The chief minister appears to have a fancy for the health department. Even in his previous tenure as chief minister in 1997, he kept the department under himself and launched a campaign against bogus medicines.
But during his current tenure he has faced some embarrassing situations -- starting with strikes by young doctors and paramedical staff for better pay packages, hundreds of deaths in a dengue outbreak and recently in drug reaction cases.
