n In a major decision which would have bearing in the management of the famed Char Dhams (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri), the Uttarakhand Government has decided to constitute a Char Dham Shrine board in the State. Apart from managing the affairs of the famous four temples, the Government has decided that the board would also manage 47 other mportant temples. A decision, in this regard, was taken in the meeting of the State Cabinet held at State secretariat on Wednesday.

As the Winter Session of Uttarakhand Assembly is convened by the Governor, the official briefing about the Cabinet decisions was not held. However, it is learnt that the Cabinet decided that the proposed Char Dham Shrine board would be made on the lines of the Vaishno Devi and Tirupati Balaji shrine board. The Chief Minister would be the chairman of the board and a senior ranking IAS officer would be the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the board. The meeting of the board would be organised once in a year and the rights of the stakeholders would remain intact.

In the meeting, the Cabinet also decided to fix rent which would be admissible to former Chief Ministers. In another important decision, the Cabinet decided to organise a ‘wellness summit’ in the State. The two- day summit would be held in April 2020 and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be invited to inaugurate it.

For the summit, road shows would be held at Mumbai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Almora. An amount of Rs 25 Crore would be spent on this summit.

The Cabinet also decided to release pending payment of Rs 1.67 crore to Kailash Kher for making a television series on Kedarnath.

The payment of the Bollywood singer was stuck from last three years. Going ahead on its policy of merger of similar departments and offices, the State Cabinet decided to merge 19 ITIs into 9 IITs. The Cabinet also gave its approval to the proposal of starting Anganwadi centres in the buildings of Government schools that were closed on account of low enrollment.

In the Angawadis centres, the children would be provided two eggs and two bananas a week. The Cabinet gave its acceptance to the proposal of providing anticipatory bail in the State.

In the upcoming Assembly Session, an amendment in the Zamidari Abolition Act would be brought up. Similarly, amendment in the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board Act would be taken

up.