A total of seven ministers in the Lumbini provincial government were assigned portfolios on Wednesday.

They were given responsibilities after Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara increased the number of ministries to 12 from the existing ten to share ministerial berths as per the demands of ruling partners. A Cabinet meeting held at the Office of Chief Minister and Council of Ministers split existing ministries.

Minister Bhagwati Adhikari has been assigned to the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens.

Likewise, Dinesh Panthi has been given the responsibility of Ministry of Home Affairs, Law and Communications, Arjun Kumar KC the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Bhumishwar Dhakal the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply and Ratna Bahadur Khatri has been assigned the responsibility of Ministry of Social Development.

Government Spokesperson Dipendra Kumar Pun Magar said Dharma Bahadur Chaudhary has been assigned to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport and Khadka Basnet to the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Cooperatives.

All the ministers were inducted into the Cabinet on April 18.

Chief Minister Mahara still holds the Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation portfolio.

On April 7, Chief Minister Mahara inducted Chet Narayan Acharya of the UML, Dipendra Pun Magar of the Maoist Centre, and Ahir of the Janata Samajbadi Party into his Cabinet as ministers without portfolios. Before expanding the Cabinet for the second time, Acharya was given the responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, Pun the Ministry of Health and Ahir the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Management.

Ahir, however, quit on Sunday. His Janata Samajbadi Party has accused Chief Minister Mahara of not adhering to a past agreement on ministerial allocations.