Cabinet Decisions
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 11 Mar: At least 11 important proposals were approved at a meeting of the Uttarakhand Cabinet held at the Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, here, today.
The more important decisions include abolition of the requirement of BEd qualification for the recruitment to posts of primary teachers in the schools. Now they would require BEIEd degrees to qualify. It has been decided to give 100 percent reimbursement of expenditure to the hospitals incurred on dialysis treatment of Atal Ayushman Scheme beneficiaries.
In addition, the Cabinet authorised the Chief Minister to take a final call regarding upgrading the status of Municipal Council, Purola, (Uttarkashi) and Kaladhungi (Nainital). As mentioned earlier, the empanelled hospitals under Atal Ayushman Health Scheme will now get 100 reimbursement on the expenditure incurred on dialysis of beneficiaries. So far, the hospitals have been getting 50 percent of the package rates for dialysis of kidney patients and, as a result, the patients were facing a lot of inconvenience and were, in some cases, also denied treatment under Atal Ayushman Health Scheme by the hospitals.
To promote tourism in district Pithoragarh, a five-day Heli Darshan package programme was approved by the Cabinet today. This package will be launched as a pilot project for a period of 6 months for darshan of Adi Kailash, Om Parvat and other sites like Gunji in district Pithoragarh. The first phase of this pilot project will be during 10 April and 10 May, this year, and the second phase has been approved for November 2024 to April 2025. The objective is to promote winter tourism in the region, create livelihood opportunities for local people, promote high value tourism and add a new modality of transport. It has been claimed that 17 Vibrant Villages in the region will benefit and it would help prevent winter migration from the region by the local people.
Along with this, the Uttarakhand Service Manual has also been approved by the Dhami Cabinet. The promulgation of the Uttarakhand Service Sector Policy was also approved. This policy will remain in force till 31 December, 2030. To encourage industries, implementation will be done through UIDB.
Under the Urban Development Department, approval was granted by the cabinet to grant the status of Nagar Panchayat to Garhi Negi area in Kashipur (US Nagar). The cabinet approved promulgation of Rules for Government Hotel Management Institute, Dehradun and Almora, under the Tourism Department.
In an important decision, the Cabinet approved grant of scholarships of Rs 5,000 per month to 100 meritorious students studying for PhD. This approval is related to the Higher Education Department and it has been claimed that it will encourage a competitive spirit among the students to excel and will also lead to improvement in the quality of research and encourage innovation.
One proposal was approved as part of the recently held Global Investors’ Summit to lease the operation of the under construction 300 bed Cancer Hospital in Harrawala (Dehradun) and the 200 bedded Maternal Child Medical Institute in district Haridwar in PPP Mode. The 300 bed Cancer Hospital has been constructed under a joint project of the Centre and the state government at a cost of Rs 106 crores. The government claims that leasing out the operation of will benefit cancer patients of the state as, so far, no such facility is available to them in public hospitals of the state. It would save the cost of hiring manpower and running the hospital. The service provider under the PPP mode will be required to provide all the facilities like diagnostic, surgery, chemo and radiotherapy, etc., to the cancer patients.
The Cabinet also approved a rehabilitation policy for the families affected by the Lakhwad Multipurpose Hydropower and Irrigation project. Under this package, a special revised rehabilitation and employment package for the affected families has been approved.
The cabinet also approved a work force project worth Rs 630 crore under the Skill Development Department. The cabinet also approved a proposal to permit air travel and UDAAN scheme in the state to Group B and Group C personnel for official travel, as well as while availing LTC. The Chief Minister was authorised by the Cabinet to take the decision to make Purola Kaladhungi a municipality.
