Malout MLA Dr Baljit Kaur wants to work for poor, kids

Archit Watts
Muktsar, April 17

Till last year, 46-year-old Dr Baljit Kaur was just another government doctor posted at Civil Hospital, Muktsar. However, within just two and a half months of taking a political plunge by joining the AAP, she is now a Cabinet Minister in the Bhagwant Mann government.

Will end child beggary

As a minister, I am working to stop child beggary soon and enrol them in government schools. Besides, I will take care of the poor and officers have assured me their full support in this cause. — Dr Baljit Kaur, Malout MLA

An MS (ophthalmology) and state awardee, she took premature retirement from her service in November last year and started practice at a charitable hospital in Muktsar town. Further, following in the footsteps of her father Prof Sadhu Singh, a former MP from Faridkot, she joined the AAP on January 1.

Later, she was announced as the party nominee from Malout (Reserved) constituency. A political greenhorn, Dr Baljit Kaur however proved her mettle by defeating the SAD’s two-time MLA Malout Harpreet Singh by a record margin of 40,261 votes.

Sources in the health department said during her government service, Dr Baljit Kaur was unhappy with the existing system. “Further, before she took premature retirement, there were talks of her transfer in the department. However, she did not bow before the system and preferred to take premature retirement from her service. She is a hardworking and self-made woman, who has got the state award for conducting a record number of eye surgeries. We are sure that she would become a successful politician too,” said some employees in the health department.

Dr Baljit Kaur, Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister, said: “As an MLA my priority is to work for the overall development of the constituency. I am regularly visiting my constituency, meeting people and redressing their complaints.”

Dr Baljit Kaur’s husband is an executive engineer in the PSPCL. The couple, who lives in Faridkot town, have two daughters. She likes to write on social issues and penning poems.