Srinagar: A day after the Jammu and Kashmir cabinet was expanded, the departments of its eight ministers were settled. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha issued orders on Wednesday allocating portfolios to the eight ministers.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary gets public works (roads and buildings), industries and commerce, labour and employment, and skill development.
Ali Mohammad Sagar takes revenue, power development, law, justice and parliamentary affairs, disaster management, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction, and the election department.
Sakeena Masood Itoo retains health and medical education and social welfare. Javed Ahmad Rana gets food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, tribal affairs and transport. Javid Ahmed Dar has been allotted agriculture production, finance, mining and cooperatives. Mir Saifullah takes planning, development and monitoring, culture, youth services and sports, and administrative reforms, inspections and trainings. Shamim Firdous gets school education, higher education and Jal Shakti. Altaf Ahmad Wani has forest, ecology and environment, and rural development and panchayati raj.
Every department and subject not allotted to a minister stays with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the order said. It was issued under Rule 4(2) of the rules governing the transaction of business of the Union Territory government.
The expansion on Tuesday brought four legislators into the council of ministers, taking it to nine, including the Chief Minister — the maximum permissible strength under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Independent MLA Satish Sharma was dropped in the reshuffle. He had held food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, transport, youth services and sports, and administrative reforms.
The expanded cabinet met for the first time on Tuesday under the Chief Minister's chairmanship, and the next meeting is expected in Jammu after offices there reopen on November 2 following the biannual Darbar Move. Newly inducted ministers have reportedly been asked to study their departments and bring agenda items for that meeting.
How the nine-member ministry is spread across the two regions has been a live question in the UT. Kashmir Valley representation now runs to seven of the nine ministers, including the Chief Minister, with the Jammu side represented by the Deputy Chief Minister and Javed Ahmed Rana.