In yet another reshuffle of portfolios, the Delhi government has appointed health minister Satyendar Jain as the new transport minister after his colleague Gopal Rai was relieved of the charge on heal
In yet another reshuffle of portfolios, the Delhi government has appointed health minister Satyendar Jain as the new transport minister after his colleague Gopal Rai was relieved of the charge on health grounds. Mr Rai had last week requested chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to relieve him of the responsibility of the transport department on health grounds as he had recently undergone a major surgery.
Mr Jain, known to be close to Mr Kejriwal, already holds key portfolios of PWD, health, power and home. Mr Rai will now hold labour, irrigation and flood control, general administration department (gad), development and employment portfolios. The AAP government in September had divested water minister Kapil Mishra of the law, justice and legislative affairs portfolio, which were given to him after Cabinet minister Jitender Singh Tomar was sacked after the fake degree row.
“The lieutenant-governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi with chief minister of National Capital Territory of Delhi is pleased to allocate portfolio of transport department to Satyendar Jain, minister,” a notification issued by the GAD on Monday said.
Mr Jain had temporarily held charge of the transport department for about 20 days when Mr Rai had undergone a surgery to get a bullet removed from his neck in the city and then shifted to Hyderabad for his physiotherapy treatment.
Mr Rai on Monday said that he had requested the chief minister to relieve him of the transport department portfolio as it had a very heavy workload. He has been undergoing physiotherapy, which is expected to last three months, at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre and is housed in the hospital.
The two phases of the odd-even scheme were implemented under the leadership of Mr Rai as the transport department was involved in the execution of the road-rationing plan.
Last month, he had announced a premium bus service scheme to encourage car users to leave their vehicles and use public transport. However, the scheme came under scanner of the Delhi government’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) as lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung had refused to give his go-ahead to the scheme.
