The North News
Chandigarh, February 22
In a masterclass on bureaucratic efficiency—or the lack thereof—the Punjab government has discovered, after a leisurely 20-month delay, that one of its senior-most ministers was in charge of a department that simply did not exist. Yes, you read that correctly. The Department of Administrative Reforms, assigned to Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, turned out to be a figment of some overzealous administrator’s imagination.
This oversight casts a shadow not just on government efficiency but also on the media’s role in holding power to account. “Why did journalists wait for an official notification instead of questioning this glaring lapse earlier? For 20 months, not a single journalist or media outlet thought to probe the workings of this so-called ministry or ask basic questions about its existence. This episode is a sobering reminder that journalism must go beyond surface-level reporting. One can only wish that someone had broken this story long before the government admitted its blunder.”
The realisation dawned upon the government just as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was reeling from its defeat in the New Delhi assembly elections and scrambling for ways to restore its credibility. In what can only be described as an administrative blooper, a recent government notification sheepishly clarified that Dhaliwal would henceforth be responsible solely for the NRI Affairs Department—an actual, functioning ministry.
Predictably, the opposition has pounced on this bureaucratic misadventure, calling it symptomatic of AAP’s governance. “If they can allocate ministries that don’t exist, imagine how they are running the ones that do,” quipped a senior opposition leader, barely containing his glee.
The official notification, issued with the urgency of a tortoise on a tea break, stated: “The Punjab Governor, on the advice of the Chief Minister, is pleased to make an amendment to the earlier notification regarding the portfolios of ministers with effect from February 7, 2025.” The announcement failed to explain how the ghost department had lingered in governmental records for nearly two years without anyone noticing.
As Punjab’s bureaucratic circles attempt to save face, citizens are left wondering if a minister can be put in charge of an imaginary department, what other surprises does the government have in store? Perhaps a Ministry of Unicorns and Rainbows is next.
