Soon after taking charge as Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal got down to business on Saturday. Here?s a look at his Cabinet, the portfolios of ministers and their priorities.
He has kept some of the plum departments with himself. This includes home, finance, vigilance, services, planning and power.
Priorities
One of his focus areas would be controlling price rise and stamping out corruption. ?Hum Dilli ki taasver badlenge… As and when some decisions are taken, we will tell you. Some decisions will be made with the people, others will be at our level…,? he said.
Manish Sisodia
Education, Public Works Department, urban development, local bodies, land and building, and revenue.
Priorities
Listing education as his priority for now, Sisodia held a series of meetings with Education department officials on Saturday. ?The sector has become a profit-making business, which is against the very principle of education…,? he said.
His priority areas will be to end donations in schools, ensure transparency in the fees structure to understand why fees varies from one school to another and improve the condition of government schools. ?I have called a meeting on Monday…,? Sisodia said.
Rakhi Birla
Women and child development, social welfare and languages
Priorities
Setting up a security force for citizens is one of her priorities. The force will comprise of retired army officers, who will be given training by the government, she said. ?We are already in contact with them. The officers will be retained at a basic salary and there will be a force of 25-30 people per ward,? she said. ?This will be an organised force under the state. We are still working out the details in this regard,? she said.
Somnath Bharti
Administrative reforms, law, tourism, art andculture
Priorities
A lawyer by profession, Bharti said his priority would be to ensure the justice system does not disappoint Delhiites. ?Delhi will get a new Jan Lokayukta Bill,? he said.
He said his immediate focus was to ensure ?normal cases take between six months and one year while judgments on cases related to violence against women are given within three to six months. This might require measures such as upgrading infrastructure, hiring more judges and support staff. Support staff is very important… being a lawyer I know,? he said.
Saurabh Bhardwaj
Food and supply, transport, environment, election, general administration
Priorities
Bhardwaj said he had asked the Transport department to review a High Court order on the BRT corridor to see if there was anything legally binding on the government. NGO Nyaya Bhoomi had gone to court over scrapping of the BRT last year. ?We have to take a decision on whether we will keep the BRT or remove it. I have asked transport officials to study the court order to see if there is anything which is binding on us,? Bhardwaj said.
Girish Soni
SC/ST, employment, development, skill mission and labour
Priorities
Looking into reasons for increasing unemployment and ensuring that all contractual workers are regularised are going to be his main focus areas. ?In the last 15 years of Congress rule, unemployment has increased. As a result, crime has also increased. I want to understand the reasons and policy shortcomings which led to this. Creating employment opportunities would be an important area for me. Also, in our manifesto, we had promised that all contractual labourers would be made permanent. Since this is one of the promises on the basis of which we have been elected to power, I will work towards ensuring this,? Soni said. ?People visiting the Secretariat will no longer need to make calls to our offices to seek permission before being issued passes. They can just show their IDs and enter.?
Satyendra Jain
Health, industries, gurudwara
Priorities
Went on surprise inspection of government-run hospitals hours after taking charge.
