Chandigarh, February 15:

To ensure more focused policy formulation, the Punjab Council of Ministers on Thursday approved restructuring and renaming of key departments relating to planning and policy.

A cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, gave the go-ahead to renaming the Department of Planning as Department of Economic Policy and Planning, while the Punjab State Planning Board will be known as Economic Policy and Planning Board.

This will help the two units to primarily focus more cogently on formulating policies for the development of the state, and on monitoring and reviewing the implementation of these policies, besides suggesting mid-course corrections.

The decision has been taken following the abolition of Planning Commission, the Government of India, which has now been replaced with the NITI Aayog—an organization entrusted with the task of policymaking. Some state governments have already reorganized their Planning Departments.