By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 12 Oct: The State Cabinet held a meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the Secretariat here today. Many important decisions were taken at the meeting. While some of the decisions were already expected due to announcements made by the CM, some other crucial decisions were also taken, totalling 26.
Some of the important decisions taken at today’s meeting include increase in the amount of aid given under Atal Awas Yojana, increase in ex-gratia payment in case of death in a road accident, and phase-wise transfer of revenue police areas to the regular Police. In addition, the CM was authorised to take an appropriate decision regarding women’s reservation. It may be recalled that the earlier government’s reservation for women of the state in the government services had been struck down by the High Court. The government is mulling approaching the Apex Court to appeal against the High Court order.
The major decisions taken by the Cabinet today were: The Cabinet approved a proposal to increase the ex-gratia payment given to the next of kin in case of death in a road accident from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakhs. It may be recalled that CM Dhami had announced this recently.
The Cabinet approved a proposal to transfer the revenue Police areas to regular police force in a phased manner. It may be recalled that in some recent cases, including that of Ankita Bhandari, the revenue police was found to be callous and negligent in registering the cases and investigating. This led to a demand for regular policing instead of revenue policing even in the hills. The CM announced this while speaking to the media and the cabinet decision is a major step towards the implementation of the plan. In the first phase, 6 police stations, 20 police outposts will be built in the tourism areas.
The cabinet also approved an amendment in the Uttarakhand Information Technology (User Charge for Electronic Filing, Creation and Issuance in Transport Department) Rules 2022. While, earlier, an amount of Rs 20 was charged for every electronic record, under the amendment, the user charge has been increased to Rs 50.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal to increase the amount of aid given to the beneficiaries under the Atal Awas Yojana by the state government and bring it at par with the amount given under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Now the amount of about Rs 1.20 lakhs will be given to the beneficiaries and the eligibility income limit has also been raised now to Rs 48,000 per annum.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal submitted on the recommendation of the Child Protection Commission, under the Education Department. While under the present rules, government facilities given to the students were stopped in case of continued and without permission absence of the child from the school for 60 days, as per the new rule, the facilities will be stopped if children are found absent without permission for 30 days. This has been ostensibly done to give facilities to more children.
In an important decision, the cabinet approved a proposal under which, on the change of land use (Under the Housing Department), the fee from the proposed petrol pumps in the urban areas would be charged at commercial rates now.
The cabinet approved the proposal to place the Annual Audit Report of the Forest Corporation in the Vidhan Sabha in the next session.
The cabinet also approved a proposal to redesignate the post of Civil Judge Junior Division as Civil Judge.
The cabinet approved a proposal for grant of additional subsidy of 25 percent in addition to the 50 percent subsidy given by the Centre for purchase of Anti-Hail nets under a scheme of the Uttarakhand Horticulture Department.
A proposal of the Finance Department related to increasing the accident insurance of GST registered dealers from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs was also approved by the Cabinet.
The cabinet today authorised the Chief Minister to take an appropriate decision on grant of additional Dearness Allowance and Bonus to the state government employees. It may be recalled that the Centre had recently announced additional DA and Bonus to its employees, which led the state government employees also to demand the same.
The cabinet also approved a proposal to employ 143 special teachers for children with special needs by approving the proposal to create these posts, which did not exist earlier. This has been done to make the education policy more inclusive.
The cabinet approved the proposal to recognise the Skill and Employment Department as an additional agency in addition to UPNL and PRD for hiring personnel in government departments through outsourcing.
The cabinet approved a proposal related to renaming of a new private university in Haridwar as Haridwar University. Earlier the proposed name was Roorkee University.
The cabinet also approved a proposal of the Home Department for making rules for promotion of police constables against additionally created 1750 posts of Additional Sub Inspector.
