Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who was sworn in as Union Minister for Works and Housing less than a week ago, has now been moved to the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation.

With the change in Dhindsa's portfolio, Urban Development Minister Jagmohan gets charge of the entire Ministry of Urban Development, out of which Works and Housing had been carved out to accommodate Dhindsa.

A brief communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan noted the changes in the Council of Ministers, naming Jagmohan to the Ministry of Urban Development and Dhindsa to the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation.

When the Atal Behari Vajpayee government was sworn in on October 13, the Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation portfolio was given to Satyanarain Jatiya.

But Jatiya made known in the right circles his unhappiness about the relative unimportance of his ministry. Sure enough, in the latest reshuffle on November 22, he wasrewarded with the Labour portfolio in the Cabinet.Urban Development Ministry insiders say it made no sense to have Jagmohan in charge of urban development, while its primary departments, works and estates were handled by another minister.

That anomaly has now been set right. At least for now.