Dhaka, July 14 (UNB) - Three ministers and two junior ministers were sworn in on Tuesday evening as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has gone on her first major cabinet-overhaul exercise inducting three new faces and elevating two junior ministers to full ministers.

President Abdul Hamid administered the oath in presence of the Prime Minister at the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban at 6:28 pm. Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan conducted the oath-taking ceremony.

State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan and State Minister for Science and Technology Yafes Osman took the oath to upgrade their positions as ministers.

Chittagong AL leader and former MP Nurul Islam BSc was also sworn in as a minister.

The two state ministers are Nuruzzaman Ahmed, MP of Lalmonirhat-2 constituency, and Tarana Halim, MP of reserved seat-16.

With the inclusion of thee new faces, Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet now turned into 52-member one comprising 32 ministers, 18 state ministers and two deputy ministers.

President’s wife Rashida Khanom, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and Agricultural Minister Matia Chowdhury were, among others, present.

Awami League sources said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina restructured her 19-month-old administrative line-up to bring dynamism into it.

On 12 January 2014, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with 29 ministers, 17 state ministers and two deputy ministers was sworn in as the Awami League-led grand alliance won the 10th parliamentary polls held on 5 January.

Nearly one and a half months later, Hasina expanded her cabinet by inducting a minister and a state minister into it on 26 February.

AH Mahmood Ali, an MP from Dinajpur-4 constituency, who discharged his duties as Foreign Minister in the Sheikh Hasina's interim government that oversaw the parliamentary polls, got back his old portfolio - Foreign Minister - while Narsingdi-1 MP Col (retd) Nazrul Islam was given the portfolio of State Minister for Water Resources.

Some ministers, meanwhile, have run into trouble with controversies after Awami League president Sheikh Hasina was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term.

Earlier on 9 July, Hasina relieved AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam of the LGRD Ministry making him a minister without portfolio.

It was the second change in Hasina’s third-term cabinet as Posts and Telecommunications Minister Abdul Latif Siddique was dropped from the Cabinet on October 12 last year for his anti-Islamic remarks in the USA.

Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain replaced Syed Ahsraf. Khandaker Mosharraf is now looking after his previous ministry as his additional charge.