In a marathon meeting which lasted for about three hours, the State Cabinet on Wednesday discussed 31 issues and took decision on 30 of them. Informing about the decisions of the Cabinet, the State Government spokesperson, Madan Kaushik said that within two months, the State Cabinet would become E- cabinet with no use of paper. He said that in the cabinet, the planning department gave an elaborate presentation in which it was figured that lot of work is remaining to be done in the field of tourism. Similarly Agriculture development also remains a challenging field.
In a key decision, the Uttarakhand government has decided to decontrol the market of denatured ethanol in the state. Kaushik said that the state had earlier exempted tax on the denatured ethanol which is industrial alcohol. He said that the cabinet also approved changes in the molasses policy 2015-16. Now the producers of molasses can sell 75 per cent of their produce in open market. Earlier this limit was 70 per cent.
The cabinet also approved the plea of the Social Baluni School on providing it relaxation in norms as it is situated on a road which is not located on a 12 metre wide road. Kaushik said that the state government also waived off Rs 4.04 crore royalty to the NHAI on the Rishikesh bye-pass under Char Dham project. The Rs 514 Crore project envisages a road stretch of 17.23 kilometres. The state government is also mulling over a proposal to exempt GST on the project. He added that the state cabinet also relaxed the compulsory contribution the Mandi Samitis of the state had to make to agriculture marketing board. The cabinet also gave its nod to amendment in Panchayati Raj Act. With it the members of the cooperative committees which earlier were debarred from contesting three tier Panchayat election would now become eligible to contest elections. In another decision taken in the meeting, the cabinet approved constitution of a Special Tiger Protection Force for the Corbett Tiger reserve. The proposal of the special force is an old one but after the approval of the Government of India to fund the force, the cabinet approved the proposal for having 85 posts in the force. The force would have one ACF rank officer, three DFOs and 81 forest guards.
A proposal to create a separate setup for the kitchen and canteen of chief minister’s residence and secretariat was approved by the cabinet on the day. The CM’s residence have a staff of 17 in kitchen while seven would be posted in secretariat kitchen. The cabinet also removed the typographical error in its earlier order of one time settlement scheme for the clinics, OPDs, childcare centres and school operating in residential areas.
In a relief to the builders not interested to construct houses for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) as per the norms, the state cabinet has decided to take compensatory shelter fund in four installments for the projects worth less than Rs three crore and in eight installments for projects having cost of more than Rs three crore. The cabinet also approved change in facade policy of housing department under which permission to construct one more story would be given. Kaushik added that the cabinet approved changes in Uttarakhand medical service recruitment board on the day which paved the way for providing house rent and other benefits to the chairman and members of the board. The cabinet also gave its nod for applying Indian Public Health Standards on the health centres. In a contentious decision, the state cabinet decided to suspend ‘Sports Code’ in the state. Defending the decision, Kaushik said that the decision would benefit the sportsperson. The cabinet also amended the purchase policy of medicines, surgical equipment and implants for the government hospitals on the day.
