India's richest woman becomes Haryana minister



India's richest woman, Savitri Jindal, was on Tuesday inducted as a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.



She has been given the portfolio of Urban Local Bodies Minister.



The post was earlier held by Gopal Kanda before he resigned in June 2011, following his involvement in the Geetika suicide case.



A Congress MLA from Hisar, Savitri is the non-executive chairperson of O.P. Jindal Group. She was named India's richest woman by Forbes, with a fortune pegged at $7.6 billion, followed by Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Shobhana Bhartia.



New job: Savitri Jindal (right) with Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Her name also figures in the Top 100 richest people in the world.



Sixty-four-year-old Savitri has been inducted as a Cabinet minister for the second time. She was first made the power minister in 2005.



The mother of industrial tycoon and Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra Navin Jindal was in the news earlier this year when the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed her to vacate the official residence after her term as power minister ended in 2009. The court had also slapped a penalty of Rs 89 lakh on her.



Besides Savitri, MLA Aftab Ahmed from Nuh (Mewat) has also been allotted the portfolio of Transport department, which was vacated by O.P. Jain in August 2012 after his name figured in a murder case.



Aftab is the only Muslim face in the Hooda government.

