Pradhan takes round of OilMin, meets officials

Taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the new Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today took a round of his ministry, dropping into rooms of senior officials to acquaint himself with their functions.

Almost a week into his first ministerial assignment, Pradhan went straight to the room of Oil Secretary Saurabh Chandra when he landed at the ministry this morning.

He then went around the ministry, meeting senior officials, appraising himself of their roles and responsibilities, officials present at during the tour said.

Pradhan followed up the round with a meeting with senior ministry officials as well as top executives of oil PSUs to discuss roadmap for implementing Modi's 10-point agenda for the first 100 days of the BJP government.

Modi had on last Thursday tweeted that he 'took a round' of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and posted his picture with other officials.

On that very day, Modi, chairing his second Cabinet meeting, unveiled a 10-point framework for 'suraaj' or good governance, assigning maximum importance to the need for empowering the bureaucracy to work without the fear that actions will be investigated post-retirement.

His priority sectors include education, health, water, energy and road besides reforms in infrastructure and environment.

Officials said the Oil Ministry is preparing first 100-day action plan.

Apart from that, Modi wants all issues pending in the department, because of the old government or any other reason, be treated on a priority basis to resolve them.