Several cabinet ministers in Champai Soren's Jharkhand govt assume office

A number of newly inducted ministers in Jharkhand's Champai Soren-led alliance government assumed office on Saturday.

The CM had allocated portfolios to the ministers on Friday.

With the exception of a few, most ministers retained the portfolios they were assigned during the previous Hemant Soren government.

Senior Congress leader and minister Alamgir Alam, who has been given the portfolio of rural development, panchayati raj, and rural works department, assumed office at the state secretariat.

Jamshedpur (west) Congress MLA Banna Gupta took office as the minister of the health and disaster management department at Nepal House, while another Congress minister, Badal Patralekh, assumed charge of the agriculture and animal husbandry department.

Patralekh directed the department officers to ensure proper spending of the budget allocation for 2023-24, as it is set to end next month.

Gupta said his intention to strengthen the state's health infrastructure.

"The budget expenditure for 2023-24 is currently at 50 per cent. I will strive to increase this," Gupta said.

JMM MLA Hafizul Hasan, assigned the tourism, sports, and youth affairs portfolio, also assumed office.

On February 2, Champai Soren was sworn in as the 12th chief minister of the state, with senior Alam and RJD leader Satyanand Bhokta taking oath as ministers.