port-folio 2011

Mamata allots portfolios, keeps key ministries
Press Trust Of India
Updated May 21, 2011 at 01:04pm IST


Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday allocated portfolios to her newly sworn-in council of ministers, keeping to herself nine departments, including Home, Land and Land Reforms.

Her other departments are Information and Cultural Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Agriculture, Hill Affairs, Minority Affairs and Madrasa Education, Personnel and Administrative Reforms and Power.

Besides Banerjee, 35 ministers from Trinamool Congress and two from the Congress took oath on Friday. While both the Congress MLAs Manas Bhuniya and Abu Hena, hold Cabinet ranks, four TC legislators have been made Ministers of State.
Mamata allots portfolios, keeps key ministries

Economist and former FICCI general secretary Amit Mitra was allocated the departments of Finance and Excise, while Banerjee's close associate Partha Chatterjee was allocated Commerce and Industries, Public Enterprises, Industrial Reconstruction, Parliamentary Affairs and Information Technology.

Trinamool Congress state president Subrata Bakshi was allocated PWD and Transport, while former Chief Secretary Manish Gupta, who defeated former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Jadavpur seat was given charge of the Development and Planning department.

Former Kolkata Mayor and Trinamool Congress vice-president Subrata Mukherjee was given charge of Public Health Engineering. Trinamool minority leader Abdul Karim Chowdhury was given charge of the Mass Education Extension and Library Services department.

Theatre personality and new Trinamool entrant Bratya Basu, who defeated CPI(M) heavyweight Goutam Deb in Dum Dum, was allocated the important portfolio of Higher Education, while former Joint Director of CBI Upendra Nath Biswas, one of Banerjee's non-politician 'trumpcards', was given Backward Classes Welfare department.

Retired Calcutta High Court Judge Noore Alam Chiowdhury who won from the Murarai seat on a Trinamool Congress ticket, was given Animal Resources Development.

Another Trinamool minority leader Javed Khan was given the Disaster Management, Fire and Emergency Services and Civil Defence. Banerjee's close aide Firhad Hakim got charge of the important Municipal Affairs and Urban Development department.

Party MLA from Singur Rabindranath Bhattacharjee was given the School Education department, while former Congress MLA Sabitri Mitra, who won from the Manikchak seat on a Trinamool ticket, got the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare department.

A former Naxalite leader Purnendu Basu, who joined the Trinamool Congress in the midst of the Singur movement, was given Labour.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Manas Bhuniya was allocated the departments of Irrigation and Waterways, Micro and Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles.

Congress Legislature Party leader Abu Hena was given the Fisheries, Food Processing Industries and Horticulture departments. Before finalising the portfolios, Banerjee held a meeting till late in the night with senior party leaders at the state secretariat.

Senior party leader Jyotipriya Mullick was allocated the Food and Civil Supplies department, Shanti Ram Mahato Self-Help Group and Self Employment and former IPS officer Hyder Aziz Safwi Cooperation and Inland Water Transport.

Following are the other Council of Ministers:

Malay Ghatak (TMC) - Law, Judicial

Rachpal Singh (TMC) - Tourism

Hiten Burman (TMC) - Forests

Goutam Deb (TMC) - North Bengal Development

Shankar Chakrabarty (TMC) - Non-conventional energy sources, Correctional Administration

Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay (TMC) - Technical Education and Training, Science and Technology, Bio-Technology

Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar (TMC) - Environment

Ujjwal Biswas (TMC) - Youth Services

Shyamaprasad Mukherjee (TMC) - Housing

Sukumar Hansda (TMC) - Paschimanchal Development Affairs

Soumen Mahapatra (TMC) - Water Resources Investigation and Development

Arup Roy (TMC) - Agriculture Marketing

Chandranath Sinha (TMC) - Panchayat and Rural Development

Subrata Saha Bakshi (TMC) - PwD, Transport

Partha Chatterjee (TMC) - Commerce and Industry, Public Enterprises, Information Technology, Industrial Reconstruction, Parliamentary Affairs

Manish Gupta (TMC) - Development and Planning

Subrata Mukherjee (TMC) - Public Health Engineering

Abdul Karim Chowdhury (TMC) - Mass Education Extension, Library Services

Sadhan Pande (TMC) - Consumer Affairs

Upen Biswas (TMC) - Backward Classes Welfare

Javed Khan (TMC) - Disaster Management, Fire and Emergency Services, Civil Defence

Rabindranath Bhattacharya (TMC) - School Education

Sabitri Mitra (TMC) - Women and Child Development, Social Welfare

Jyotipriya Mullick (TMC) - Food and Supplies

HA Safwi (TMC) - Cooperation, Inland Water transport

Bratya Basu (TMC) - Higher Education

Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury (TMC) - Animal Resources Development

Purnendu Bose (TMC) - Labour

Shantiram Mahato (TMC) - Self Help Group, Self-employment

Manas Bhuniya (Congress) - Irrigation and Waterways, Micro and Small scale enterprises, Textiles

Manjulkrishna Thakur (Congress) - Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation

Madan Mitra (Congress) - Sports

Shyamal Mandal (Congress) - Sunderbans Affairs

Abu Hena (Congress) - Fisheries, Food Processing industries, Horticulture

Speaker - Biman Banerjee

Deputy Speaker - Sonali Guha