UP ministers wait for work

‘‘I have not even got the official car yet,’’ laments Ajit Kumar Raju, the Minister of State for Elementary Education. His boss, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh, is yet to give him work.

MoS for Labour Kaushal Kishore has met Mulayam just twice in the past two months.

‘‘I met him during the oath-taking ceremony and then on the first day of the current session — the gap between the two meetings is nearly two months,’’ he says. He is yet to get even a photocopier, computer and fax machine for his office. Kaushal hasn’t moved into the official residence either as its location doesn’t suit him. ‘‘The house is situated at a remote corner. On an average, over 100 people come to meet me every day and they will find it difficult to come to the new house at Gomti Nagar,’’ he says.

Kalyan Singh’s protege‚ Kusum Rai is the PWD Minister and has got two MoS — Arvind Kumar Singh Gop, Sanjay Garg — but both have yet to get any departmental job from her.

The two men stay put in their Assembly segments.

While assuming charge, Kusum had promised: ‘‘Impartiality in the jobs undertaken and non-partisan approach will be my priority.’’ Similar was the approach of Ajit Singh’s protege‚g‚, Anuradha Chaudhary, who heads the Irrigation Department and has two MoS — Tejpal Singh and Yogesh Pratap Singh. Goes without saying that her MoS are also twiddling their thumbs.

While Mulayam has kept 28 departments with himself, including Cane, Elementary, Secondary, Higher Education and Information, he has 96 other ministers to look after nearly 90 departments in the state.