ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) approved the formation of provincial cabinets in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday.

According to the PTI’s official lists, the Punjab cabinet will consist of 23 members while the KP cabinet will have 15 members.

Prime Minister Imran Khan spent a busy day at his residence at Banigala to give final shape to the two cabinets.

The prime minister interviewed candidates for different slots in the provincial set-ups, according to federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

Mr Khan interviewed a batch of around 40 aspirants for Punjab ministries and made it clear that they would have to work round the clock to serve the masses.

The ministers’ performance will be evaluated after three months and only those would be retained whose record was adjudged to be satisfactory.

The poor performers will be issued warnings while those failing to perform would be removed.

Reliable sources told Dawn that the prime minister initially intended to name a 15-member cabinet to run government affairs in Punjab.

The prime minister held a detailed discussion with the PTI and PML-Q MPAs at his Banigala residence before announcing the Punjab cabinet. Mr Khan had also held in-depth discussions on the selection of Punjab cabinet with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Punjab PTI chief Aleem Khan in Islamabad a few days ago.

The prime minister told the aspirants that all of them would be considered, but initially the cabinet would remain short. He said those assigned ministries in the first phase would be required to work seven days a week. “The government is never on a holiday,” he said.

Imran Khan also said that all would-be ministers should visit their departments after assuming charge and begin their job by identifying and plugging undue utilisation of resources.

“Austerity measures should be taken up as a way of life,” he asserted. The state of Madina should be adopted as a model, he observed.

When the prime minister told potential ministers that they would get only one official car, Usman Buzdar said that he himself had one official car at his disposal. Mr Khan asked the chief minister to keep two official cars at his disposal.

The other vehicles in the chief minister’s secretariat will be auctioned.

Pouring his heart out, Mr Khan said ministers would be given three months to perform and their performance would be assessed by a task force.

He said the ministers found negligent in performing their duties would be removed while low performers would be told to improve performance.

Those performing well in the ministries would be allowed to continue.

An aspiring minister said the prime minister carried a diary with him and took some notes during the meeting. The meeting also discussed water shortage and decided to issue instructions for water conservation, besides declaring a water emergency.

Punjab cabinet

The names and portfolios of Punjab’s cabinet members are:

Hafiz Muhammad Ahmed (Excise & Taxation and Narcotics Control), Makhdoom Hashim Bakht (Finace), Samiullah Chaudhry (Food), Fayyazul Hassan Chuhan (Information and Culture), Muhammad Sibtain Khan (no portfolio), Sardar Asif Nakkai (no portfolio), Hafiz Ammar Yasir (without portfolio), Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz (Higher Education and Tourism Development), Mian Mehmoodur Rashid (Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering), Mian Aslam Iqbal (Industry, Commerce and Investment), Malik Nauman Langrial (without portfolio), Raja Basharat (Law and Parliament Affairs), Aleem Khan (Local Government and Communituy Development-As a senior minister), Raja Rashif Hafeez (Revenue), Hasnain Dareshak (without portfolio), Malik Muhammad Anwar (without portfolio), Dr Yasmeen Rashid (Primary and Secondary Healthcare/ Specialized Healthcare Medication Education), Taimoor Khan (Youth Affair/Sports), Mohsin Leghari (Irrigation), Murad Ross (School Education), Chaudhry Zaheeruddin (without portfolio), Ansar Majeed Niazi (Labour and Manpower), hashim Dogat (without portfolio), Muhammad Akram Chaudhry (Political Adviser).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Atif Khan (senior minister/ Tourism), Shahram Khan Tarakai (Local Government), Taimur Saleem Khan Jaghra (Finance), Syed Muhammad Istiaq Urmer (Forest), Haji Qalandar Khan Lohdi (Food), Akhtar Ayub Khan (no portfolio), Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Revenue), Mohibullah Khan (Agriculture), Dr Amjad Ali (Mineral Development), Ziaullah Khan Bangash (adviser to CM), Sultan Muhammad Khan (Law), Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan (Health), Kamran Khan Bangash (Information Technology), Abdul Karim (Adviser to CM on Industries), Shah Muhammad Khan (special Assistant to CM on Transport).

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2018