CM Yogi to reshuffle his cabinet today

Source: dailypioneer.com

Five ministers of the UP Cabinet, including Finance minister Rajesh Agarwal, resigned on Tuesday on eve of the first cabinet expansion in the state.

Also putting in their papers on Tuesday were cabinet minister for cooperative societies Mukut Bihari Verma, sports minister Chetan Chauhan, minister of state (independent charge) for basic education charge Anuradha Jaisawal and minister of state for agriculture marketing Swati Singh.

Mukut Bihari Verma had unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha elections from Ambedkarnagar.

All five ministers have submitted their resignation to the chief minister Yogi Adityanath. 

The outgoing finance minister resigned citing health reasons while the other four ministers have quit as they anticipated their dismissal from the council of ministers. 

“Following the policy of my organisation, I have tendered my resignation from the state cabinet as I am 75 years of age. Now it is up to the party to accept it. I’ll carry out whatever responsibility will be given to me,” Rajesh Agarwal later said.

Speculations are rife that one more deputy chief minister from the Dalit community is likely to be inducted, thus taking the number of deputy CMs to three. 

The maximum strength of the council of ministers can be 61, including the Chief Minister, since the Uttar Pradesh Assembly has 403 seats.

“The oath-taking ceremony will be held on Wednesday at the Raj Bhavan at 11 am,” an official said.  

However, the official declined to state the number of ministers who may take oath on Wednesday. 

The much-awaited cabinet reshuffle of the Yogi Adityanath government is to fill slots that have fallen vacant, especially after some ministers were elected to the Lok Sabha. 

Yogi Adityanath took over the reins of the state in March 2017, and this will be the first expansion of his ministry. 

Three UP ministers were elected to the Lok Sabha in the recent polls, while disgruntled minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) leader O P Rajbhar was sacked by the chief minister for his repeated outbursts against the party.

The reshuffle was initially scheduled for Monday (August 19) but was postponed due to the deteriorating health of former Union minister Arun Jaitely in Delhi. 

Earlier on Sunday, the authorities had suddenly stopped the distribution of invitation cards after officials confirmed the postponement of the swearing-in ceremony.

Preparations had begun for the swearing-in ceremony, while legislators, who were slated to be sworn in, were asked to reach Lucknow. 

The Yogi government has a total of 43 ministers, including the Chief Minister. There are 18 Cabinet ministers, nine Ministers of State with Independent charge and 13 Ministers of State, including two Deputy Chief Ministers — Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma.

Yogi Adityanath asks authorities to be on guards after brain fever deaths in Bihar

Source: indiatoday.in

Amid several deaths in Bihar due to brain fever, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday asked state health authorities to be on guards against any such eventuality.

Yogi Adityanath cautioned the authorities during a meeting to review the functioning of the state’s medical, health and family welfare departments at Lok Bhavan in Lucknow.

“Keeping in view of 35 deaths in neighbouring Bihar due to encephalitis, there should be proper planning and we need to be prepared for any such disaster,” said the chief minister.

Yogi Adityanath also wanted all doctors and hospital staffers in the state to treat patients with dignity and asked chief medical officers to visit their respective hospital wards regularly and meet the patents.

Chief medical officers should interact with every patient admitted to the hospital and regularly visit the patient wards, Yogi Adityanath said.

“We have to be committed towards every citizen of the state for his or her better treatment without discrimination,” Yogi Adityanath said.

“For a better treatment of patients, the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) should depute a doctor as a nodal officer in every hospital and make them responsible for monitoring every issue related to the hospital and patients,” Yogi Adityanath added.

Yogi Adityanath also instructed officials to reduce the response time to calls for ambulance service on telephone number 108 and review the health-related government schemes every fortnight.

“During the last two years, 250 life support ambulances were made available to save the lives of people. Mobile medical vans are also working in the remote areas for the same,” the chief minister pointed out.

The chief minister also expressed satisfaction over the improvement of medical facilities in the state’s hospital over the last two years during his tenure.

“Everyone plays a vital role and we all should work in a team to get the best result. Twenty-five years ago, district hospitals were operated very well but there has been a continuous decline in the health facilities,” Yogi Adityanath said.

“For the past two years, we have, however, tried to correct the system. Earlier we saw that medicines were not available in hospitals, but for the past two years there has been a major positive change,” Yogi Adityanath added.

The chief minister also emphasised upon the need of regular scrutiny of the functioning of hospitals and community health centres.

“The CMOs and other officers of the Health Department of every district should go to the field and examine the functioning of hospitals and community centres,” Yogi Adityanath said.

Yogi Adityanath also asked authorities to keep an eye over the supply of medicines to hospitals so that its availability in never disrupted.