LAHORE: The Punjab cabinet swelled to 43 as four advisers and five special assistants were inducted into it. The advisers included Prime Minister Imran Khan’s private secretary Awn Chaudhry.

The cabinet wing of services and general administration department (S&GAD) issued separate notifications on Tuesday.

Eleven new ministers had been added to the cabinet in the second phase a couple of days ago.

Besides Mr Chaudhry, the three MPAs appointed as advisers to the chief minister are Abdul Haye Dasti, Faisal Hayat and Muhammad Hanif, and they will look after agriculture, livestock and health departments, respectively. No department has yet been assigned to Mr Chaudhry.

The MPAs who have been appointed as special assistants to the CM were Muhammad Salman (transport), Rafaqat Gilani (auqaf and religious affairs), Umer Farooq (youth and sports), Ameer Muhammad Khan (forest) and Khurram Khan Leghari (food).

The S&GAD has also issued a notification assigning departments to the newly appointed 11 ministers. The new ministers included Pir Saeedul Hassan Shah (auqaf and religious affairs), Mehar Aslam (cooperatives), Hussain Jahania Gardezi (management and professional development), Muhammad Ajmal (social welfare and Baitul Mal), Muhammad Ikhlaq (special education), Ashifa Riaz (women’s development), Shaukat Laleka (zakat and ushr), Zawar Hussain Warraich (prisons), Mian Khalid (disaster management), Jahanzeb Khan Khichhi (transport) and Ijaz Masih (human rights and minority affairs).

The new ministers, advisers and special assistants come from 12 districts of Punjab – Sialkot, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Bhakkar, Toba Tek Singh, Muzaffargarh, Multan, Layyah, Khanewal, Lodhran, Vehari and Bahawalnagar, which were unrepresented in the cabinet so far.

The earlier 23-member cabinet had represented just 13 districts – Lahore, Rawalpindi Chakwal, Kasur, Faisalabad and Rajanpur and one each member from Attock, Mianwali, Sargodha, Jhang, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2018