Punjab cabinet sworn in; Shahbaz keeps eight ministries
LAHORE: Portfolios have been awarded to 21 new provincial ministers in Punjab on Monday with Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif keeping eight ministries to himself, DawnNews reported.
The newly elected cabinet has five ministers from Sharif's previous cabinet while 16 new faces have been added in the biggest province of the country.
Earlier, Governor Punjab Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood administered oath of the newly elected cabinet at the Governor House in Lahore.
CM Sharif was present on the occasion, who, as later was revealed, decided to keep eight provincial ministries to him.
Ministries of Public Prosecution, Planning and Development, Literacy, Information, S and GAD department, Livestock and Dairy Development, Transport and Telecommunication and Development will be kept by the Punjab chief minister.
According to an official notification, Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan will take charge of School Education Ministry with additional portfolios of Higher Education, Youth Affairs, Archeology, Tourism and Sport.
Rana Sanaullah has been given the Ministry of Local Government with additional portfolio of Law and Parliamentary Affairs.
Raja Ashfaq Sarwar will manage the office of Labour and Human Resources, Iqbal Channer Cooperatives, Bilal Yaseen Food, Shuja Khanzada Environment Protection, Zakia Shahnawaz Population Welfare, Hamida Wahiduddin Women Development while Sher Ali Khan will take charge of Mines and Minerals Ministry.
Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman will assume his duties as provincial Finance Minster with additional portfolio of Excise.
Nadeem Kamran Zakat-o-Ashr, Dr Farrukh Agriculture, Haroon Sultan Auqaf and Religious Affairs, Tanvir Aslam Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering, Asif Malik Fisheries, Wildlife and Forest, Chaudhry Shafiq Commerce, Industry and Investment, Asif Munees Special Education, Abdul Waheed Chaudhry Prison, Khalil Tahir Sindhu Minority Affairs, Human Rights and Health, Yawar Zaman Irrigation and Mian Atta Manika will be the Minster for Social Welfare and Welfare Fund.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry Arshad Jutt, Rai Haider Ali and Rana Maqbool will serve as Special Assistants to the chief minister while Azimul Haq will be Advisor to the CM.