By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 21 Nov: A meeting of the state cabinet was held today at the Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. In all, 18 proposals were submitted for the consideration of the Cabinet, all of which were approved.
Taking a major decision, the cabinet has approved the proposal to fix the minimum period of life imprisonment at 14 years. Earlier, the female prisoners were given life imprisonment of periods ranging from 14 to 16 years, while the male prisoners were given life imprisonment of a period ranging from 16 to 18 years following which they could be released from the prison based on their behaviour assessment by the authorities. As per the cabinet decision, the prisoners can now be released after 14 years of imprisonment. Not only this, the condition of releasing such prisoners only on the occasion of 15 August or 26 January, each year, has also been done away with. Now, orders to release the prisoners after 14 years of imprisonment can be issued any time of the year.
In another important decision, the Cabinet also approved a proposal of the Finance Department regarding a supplementary budget for the current financial year to the tune of Rs 4867 crores. A finance bill to this effect will be presented for the approval of the House at the winter session of the state assembly beginning from 29 November.
Other important decisions included reduction of stamp duty on resin from 5 percent to 2 percent, approval to construct a Smart City Green building on the land of the Roadways workshop on Haridwar Road, and the decision to hand over the control and management of all the bus stations in the state to the Roadways. In addition, the cabinet also approved a proposal to increase reimbursement under RTE for the schools from Rs 1300 to Rs 1800 and proposal to restructure the posts at Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam, whereby 6 additional posts of Superintending Engineers would be created. It, however, remains to be seen if increasing reimbursement under RTE from Rs 1300 to Rs 1800 will encourage schools to fill up the seats under RTE, which a large majority of the schools have been reluctant to do.
