CM chairs Cabinet Meeting
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 13 Aug: A cabinet meeting was held at the Secretariat here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Several important decisions keeping in view the coming monsoon session of the state assembly were taken at the meeting.
A formal briefing was not held after the cabinet meeting as the Assembly session has been convened.
However, speaking informally after the cabinet meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal indicated that, in all, 36 proposals were approved at the meeting.
Some of the more important decisions include approval of upgradation of Doiwala Municipal Council from C Grade to A Grade municipality, and upgradation of the Almora and Pithoragarh Municipal Councils to the level of Municipal Corporation (Nagar Nigam). Some other important decisions included the cabinet authorising the CM to take a final call on OBC reservations of wards for municipal elections in the state. With the upgradation of Almora and Pithoragarh municipalities to Corporations, the number of corporations in the state will go up to 11.
Elaborating on the OBC reservations in the Municipal Wards, Aggarwal stressed that the work on demarcation and delimitation of the municipal corporations will be completed first. After that, the civic elections will be conducted by providing reservations for OBCs.
In another important decision, the cabinet also decided to allow subsidy to the tourism industry in the hills and, for this, the cabinet approved a proposal to amend the Tourism Policy.
Some other decisions included: Granting approval to include Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Secretary, Rural Development and Commissioner, Rural Development, as members in the Board of Governance of Uttarakhand Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Institute in the list of Board of Governors of Uttarakhand Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Institute.
Approval was also granted by the cabinet regarding re-implementation of One Time Settlement Scheme to amend Sub-rule (5) of Rule-14 of Uttarakhand Mining (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules 2024 and to promulgate Uttarakhand Surface and Mining Mineral Supervisor Service Rules 2024 as well as to promulgate Uttarakhand Geology and Mining Subordinate Technical Service Rules 2024.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal for creation of a total of seven posts for operation of the newly constructed Old Age and Disabled Home with capacity of 50 elderly persons at Raiwala, Dehradun, under the Social Welfare Department. Apart from this, the cabinet also approved a proposal for construction of an Old Age and Disabled Home in every district of the state.
The Cabinet granted approval for promulgation of Uttarakhand Territorial Armed Constabulary Subordinate Officer Service (Amendment) Rules 2024. The cabinet also approved the Uttarakhand Compensation Payment Policy (2024) on the death of prisoners. Under this, compensation amount ranging from Rs 2 to 5 lakhs will be provided.
The cabinet also approved creation of nine temporary posts of Field Assistant/Master Trainer at Aromatic Plant Centre, Selaqui, under the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department. Another proposal to develop the Bhagwanpur Mandi as a Pradhan (main) Mandi in the state was also approved.
In view of the growing needs of Uttarakhand State Council of Science & Technology (UCOST), the cabinet approved a proposal to unfreeze the restriction imposed on new recruitments. As a result, recruitment on 6 posts has been unfrozen in UCOST which will allow the autonomous body to fill up these vacancies.
