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Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 15
A massive cleanliness exercise and whitewash is in progress at the Civil Secretariat for the new Punjab Government led by Capt Amarinder Singh. The name plates of outgoing Ministers and officers were removed; the new ones will be put up as soon as Capt Amarinder announces his team.
The offices of the Chief Minister and his media adviser are being specially spruced up. Capt Amarinder will assume office after 10 years. The media adviser’s office belonged to Harcharan Bains, one of the closest aides to outgoing Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
There was, however, no visible sign of whitewashing in the office of the Deputy Chief Minister, from where Sukhbir Singh Badal operated. The Congress is unlikely to appoint anyone on the post. It was believed that Navjot Singh Sidhu, former BJP MP and now Congress MLA, was promised the position. Asha Kumari, Congress in-charge of Punjab affairs, had said in New Delhi that there was no provision in the Constitution for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post.
Other offices were also being spruced up. The outer walls of the Secretariat were washed and scrubbed. Old-timers said such a massive cleanliness exercise was witnessed after a long time. Heaps of animal droppings were removed from outer parapet and balconies.
Inside, sacks full of garbage and litter were lined up on the ground floor.
Officials of the Public Works Department clarified that the exercise was merely to clean up offices. “The rooms will be renovated if the new occupants desire so,” an official said.
Capt Amarinder has already announced that he is against wasteful expenditure because of poor fiscal health of the state. Officials have kept their fingers crossed on renovation. Sources said lakhs of rupees were spent annually in renovating the rooms.
Several Congress MLAs visited the Civil Secretariat today and sought rooms of their choice. The MLAs, hopeful of ministerial berth, met senior officers to ask for particular rooms.
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