The State Cabinet took various decisions in its meeting held here on Monday ahead of the start of the monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha. Among the decisions taken in the meeting, the Cabinet decided to implement a hike in dearness allowance for State employees which will entail a burden of Rs 300 crore on the State exchequer.

It was also decided that 100 posts of specialist doctors will be reserved for temporary appointment of eligible retired doctors aged less than 65 years.

Due to the Vidhan Sabha being called into session, there was no official briefing of the decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting presided over by the CM Trivendra Singh Rawat.

According to sources, there were 10 issues in the meeting of the Cabinet with decisions being taken on seven issues while three issues were deferred for the next meeting.

The Cabinet approved the 7,50,000 metric tonne target for purchase of the Rabi season paddy crop.

The Government will directly purchase about 1.5 lakh metric tonne and procure the remaining 7.5 lakh metric tonnes from wholesalers.

The Minimum support price for the common variety has been set at Rs 1750 per quintal. Further, the Cabinet approved the raising of DA for State employees from July 1, 2018 which will result in an additional Rs 300 crore financial burden on the State exchequer. In addition to this, the Cabinet also approved the proposal for reserving 100 posts of specialist doctors for retired specialist doctors.

A committee headed by the Director General of health will finalise the appointment of such doctors for about one year for whom the age limit is 65 years.

Further a 0.4046 hectare land bought in Amwala Tarla area of Dehradun by the Azim Premji Foundation the land-use for which was residential will be converted to public and semi-public.

This decision was taken since the foundation will be utilising the said land for public interest works.

The Cabinet was also informed that hearing on an appeal filed by the State challenging the Uttarakhand high court’s decision about making police personnel do only eight hours duty per day and other police related issues, the Supreme Court had granted a stay.