Patna: Several newly appointed Bihar ministers assumed charge of their respective departments on Friday and outlined their priorities with a focus on transparency, public welfare, administrative efficiency and better service.Revenue and land reforms minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal said the department’s functioning had been badly affected due to the recent strike by circle officers (COs) and revenue officials, leading to a large backlog of pending work. He said normal operations had started returning to track after the protest ended.“The functioning had stopped at the lower level, but now it has started coming back on rails. I appeal to the officers, employees and staff at the circle level to do service in the interest of people,” Dilip said.He announced a special three-month campaign to clear pending cases and restore the department’s public image. Stressing transparency and accountability, Dilip warned officials against negligence and said public service delivery would remain the department’s top priority.“Our commitment is to give a clean administration. Any wrong done brings a bad name to the department and the govt,” he said.Dilip also recalled that during his previous tenure, around 11,000 personnel were recruited and special land survey work was initiated across the state.Social welfare minister Dr Shweta Gupta said welfare of women, children, widows, elderly people and differently-abled persons would remain her department’s top priority. After assuming charge, she held a review meeting with officials on the implementation of welfare schemes.“New initiatives will be undertaken to bolster women’s economic self-reliance, child development, nutrition, education, and healthcare services,” Shweta said.She directed officials to ensure transparent and timely implementation of welfare schemes so benefits reached deprived and marginalised sections effectively.Meanwhile, prohibition, excise and registration minister Madan Sahani said the department would intensify efforts to curb liquor smuggling and prevent production and consumption of spurious liquor.“The work is very challenging. I will try to find ways for a still better implementation of the prohibition law to end the twin menace of smuggling of liquor and production of spurious liquor,” Sahani said.Among other ministers who assumed charge were Shrawan Kumar (information and public relations), Ashok Choudhary (food and consumer protection), Mithilesh Tiwari (education), Nishant Kumar (health), Ram Kripal Yadav (cooperative), Deepak Prakash (Panchayati Raj) and Kedar Prasad Gupta (tourism).
