A Panjab government notification revealed that a department assigned to minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal does not exist. Dhaliwal has supposedly been heading the dept. of Administrative Reforms for the last 20 months. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) responded that the dept. has been ‘restructured’. Dhaliwal downplayed the controversy, ‘For me, the department is not important; Panjab is important.’ The administrative fiasco revealed that Dhaliwal never convened staff sessions for the phantom dept. This has spurred fresh criticism from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) who labeled the missing dept. a governance failure. Bathinda’s SAD Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, ‘Allocate non-existent departments to ministers who themselves are ignorant of the portfolios they hold. All this is happening because ministers have no role in governance as the govt. is being run through remote control from Delhi.’ On 19 Feb, AAP’s ex-Delhi Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Manish Sisodia visited schools in Panjab incurring criticism from the Democratic Teachers Front for ‘blatant interference.’ After the AAP lost the Delhi election, the party seems to take interest in Panjab and save its last bastion. Three years have gone by since AAP assumed power, in the next two years the party wants to strengthen its anti-corruption image. After suspending the Muktsar Deputy Commissioner for alleged irregularities, the Panjab govt dismissed 52 police officers, transferred 6 Deputy Commissioners, reshuffled multiple Senior Superintendent of Police and introduced a pilot e-First Information Report system. The govt. has asked 236 law officers to resign citing the expiration of their one-year terms. On a positive note, Panjab has become the first state to enact a Sports Development Act 2024, guaranteeing transparent, merit-based athlete selection. CM Bhagwant Singh Mann hailed this legislation as pivotal for upgrading sports standards and ensuring fair representation.
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