Agartala, Mar 10, 2023, TRIPURATIMES Desk
Agartala, March 10: Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Friday allocated the ministerial portfolios among his cabinet colleagues.
This time the Chief Minister kept about 30 departments including Home, Health, PWD, Information and Cultural Affairs, Education, Forest departments with himself.
Former ministers who had been included this time also in the cabinet also found their departments changed.
According to a notification issued by Chief Secretary J.K. Sinha, the Power and Agriculture departments have been entrusted to Ratan Lal Nath, who held the Education and Law portfolios in the previous government. The crucial F i n a n c e , P l a n n i n g , Coordination along with Information Technology departments have been a l l oc a t e d t o form e r Agriculture, Transport, and Tourism minister, Pranajit Singha Roy while Food, Civil Supplies, Transport, and Tourism departments were allocated to former Information and Cultural Afairs and Sports Minister Sushanta Chowdhury.
The Industries and Commerce, Welfare of Other Backward Communities was given to the lone woman minister, Santana Chakma.
Youth Affairs, Sports and Labour departments were allocated to new minister Tinku Roy, Tribal Welfare to Bikash Debbarma, Scheduled Caste Welfare and Animal Resource development to Sudhanshu Das. Shukla Charan Noatia, who is the lone minister of BJP’s ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura in the alliance government, has been allocated Cooperation and Minorities Welfare.
Three ministerial berths remained vacant. It is expected these berths would also soon be filled up.
Four ministers of the first BJP led government -- Ram Prasad Paul, Bhagaban Das, Manoj Kanti Deb and Rampada Jamatia -- did not find place in the second saffron part-led government.
Saha along with eight other cabinet ministers took oath days after the BJP-IPFT alliance retained power in Tripura for the second straight term. The BJP won 32 seats in the 60-member state assembly. The elections were held on February 16 last.