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Expansion after by-poll: Chauhan

Chief Minister completes one year in office

Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh Ministry is likely to be expanded after the December 4 Pandhana assembly by-elections, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said here on Wednesday.

``I plan to leave for a foreign trip on December 9. So the expansion will take place before it or after I return, but only after the Pandhana by-elections on December 4,'' Chouhan said.

On possibilities of some ministers being dropped or any reshuffle, he claimed to have reviewed works of every department and said that most of the ministers performed fairly well.

``Performance of ministers and MLAs will be the yardstick for assigning responsibilities,'' he added.

The Chouhan ministry has three vacancies, while two more are expected to be created in view of State Minister Rampal Singh's election to the Lok Sabha and Narendra Singh Tomar's election as State BJP president.

Anti-corruption drive

Chouhan, who completed one year in office, added that a special drive would be launched from ``top to bottom'' to combat corruption.

``Corruption is deep rooted and well entrenched in all spheres and my experience suggests it is not easy to curb the menace. We have initiated several measures but a lot more needs to be done to wipe it out,'' Chouhan said.

Warning that the Government would come down heavily on the corrupt, he said 42 officials and personnel had been dismissed for irregularities.

``In addition, agencies like Lokayukta and the Economic Offences Wing will be well equipped and provided adequate resources, manpower and other facilities to fight corruption effectively,'' the Chief Minister said.

Terming unemployment as another major problem, he admitted that adequate steps could not be taken so far by the BJP Government to provide jobs to the unemployed.

``Top priority will be accorded to remove unemployment this year by generating jobs in different spheres,'' he said.

Chouhan said agriculture, which has immense employment potential, would be made profitable through diversification and promotion of food processing and agro-based industries.

PTI

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