Industry, investment in his kitty, Sanjeev Arora now gets power dept too

Sources within the ruling AAP said that CM Mann has sent out a strong message with the reshuffle. The rejig has also highlighted how Arora, who was elected an MLA after he won the June 19 Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll and was inducted as a minister in July, is slowly turning into a power centre within the party and the government.

During the last cabinet expansion in July, Kuldeep Dhaliwal was dropped as a minister and his lone portfolio, NRI affairs, was given to Arora. Portfolios of industry and commerce and investment promotion, which were earlier held by Tarunpreet Singh Sond, were also given to Arora, who was a Rajya Sabha member before being asked by the party to contest the bypoll, which was being seen as a litmus test for the ruling AAP.

Incidentally, hours before the the government issued the notification regarding the portfolio reallocation, Harbhajan Singh held a meeting with the representatives of various unions of power utilities — Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation. During the meeting, the union leaders apprised him of their demands and expressed gratitude to the state government for the recent 10 per cent salary hike.

In a statement, Harbhajan Singh said the Punjab government is committed to the welfare of state employees and assured that all their demands would be met soon.

PSPCL workers had gone on a strike from August 11, demanding the release of pending dearness allowance and restoration of the old pension scheme. They called off their strike on August 14.

However, sources close to CM Mann said he divested Harbhajan Singh of the power portfolio as he was not able to handle the protest by 15,000 PSPCL employee. The government had to then direct the PSPCL to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) and issue a warning of strict penalties.

“The minister was not able to handle the department. The department got into news during peak summer when there were power cuts of 15 hours especially in Mohali. Then there were reports of breakdowns during monsoon. When the monsoon was at its peak, his department employees went on strike. The government had to take strongest measure of invoking ESMA. The government involved Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema to talk to the employees,” said the source.

Under the ESMA, striking employees face possible termination, cancellation of promotions for those on probation and even imprisonment of up to three years along with penalties. The directive had stated that contractual, work-charged, daily wage and contingent staff participating in the strike risk losing their jobs. “It was only after ESMA that the employees called off their strike. Otherwise, it would have been a fiasco,” the source said, adding that “the axe of non-performance was hanging over Harbhajan Singh since early this year”.

Also, it was learnt that the government felt that the industry was unhappy with the department of power. “The rejig has also go to do with handing a complete bouquet of related departments to Arora. There are lots of decisions that are related to industry that have roots in power department. Now, all these departments are with Arora,” said a source.

He added that Arora, who was not given the post of Deputy Chief Minister was being made more powerful by handing him more departments.