Sat Feb 22 06:32:33 UTC 2025: ## Punjab Minister’s Non-Existent Department Exposed After 20 Months
**Chandigarh, February 21, 2025** – The Punjab government has admitted a significant administrative blunder, revealing that a cabinet minister, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), headed a non-existent department for nearly two years.
Dhaliwal, who also holds the NRI Affairs portfolio, was assigned the Department of Administrative Reforms in May 2023, following a cabinet reshuffle. Despite subsequent reshuffles in September 2024, the error remained undetected until a recent gazetted notification officially dissolved the department.
The revelation has sparked criticism from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which accused the AAP government of incompetence and questioned how a minister could oversee a non-existent department for such an extended period. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari called the situation a “joke” and highlighted the Chief Minister’s apparent unawareness of the administrative anomaly.
The Punjab government has now confirmed that Dhaliwal will retain only the NRI Affairs portfolio, following the correction. This comes at a time when Dhaliwal is already under scrutiny for his handling of the recent deportation of illegal Indian migrants from the United States.
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