Easing the recruitment rules to plug certain long-pending vacancies, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered immediate steps to fill up a whopping 19,000 vacancies in various departments.
The vacancies to be filled up on priority include 5,000 in the Police department, 5,300 in electricity department (PSPCL), 2500 teachers, 5000 paramedic and specialized staff, including doctors and specialists, in Health Department and 1300 in Revenue department, said the spokesperson.
The Chief Minister has also asked the other departments to submit their lists of vacancies without delay so that the process of filling them up could also be initiated immediately. Bringing more efficiency into concerned departments, the move will also generate additional employment in the State.
The directions by the Chief Minister came even as the Cabinet decided to ease the recruitment rules for qualified civil services personnel in the State through amendments to various relevant legislations, thus paving way for filling posts that remain vacant due to non-availability of suitable candidates.
The decision would help resolve the issues related to allocation of services on the basis of Punjab State Civil Services Combined Examination.
The Cabinet also authorized the Chief Minister to approve the final draft of the rules, said the spokesperson.
Under the existing rules, different categories of vacant posts, such as those reserved SCs, Balmiki and Mazhabi Sikh and general category sportsmen and ex-servicemen, were being treated differently. There was ambiguity on whether the unfilled posts of ex-servicemen and sports quota from Balmiki and Mazhabi Sikh category were to be filled from General Pool of Balmiki and Mazhabi Sikh or from General pool of all SC Candidates.
Such situations led to prolonged litigations regarding filling up of these posts. In view of these circumstances, the personnel department had proposed that the rules and instructions may be modified to make these clear, logical and consistent across all categories of posts, and ensure that the interests of SCs and BCs are duly protected.
PUNJAB TO RAISE Rs 50cr BY DISINVESTING PSIDC’s 90,90,000 SHARES IN PACL TO REPAY DEBTS
Eyeing to generate around Rs 50 crore, the Punjab Government has decided to disinvest 90,90,000 shares of Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) in Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (PACL) to repay PSIDC’s debts.
The spokesperson said that the amount realised from the move would be utilized for paying the debts of PSIDC which had been incurring heavy losses since 2009-10, with its net worth going in the red and PACL became a sick company.
The Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) registered PACL’s reference as Sick Industrial Company under section 15 (1) of Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA) as BIFR Case No.152/2015.
The Directorate of Disinvestment would initiate the process of disinvestment of PACL, a Public Limited Company formed under the Companies Act, 1956, which commenced operations in January 1984 at two manufacturing units located at Naya Nangal and Rupnagar.
The Directorate of Disinvestment had earlier made four attempts for disinvestments of PSIDC’s equity stake in PACL in 2002-03, 2004-06, 2009-11 and 2012-15. However, none of these attempts could succeed.
PUNJAB TO HAVE SPECIAL IT CADRE FOR E-GOVERNANCE PROG
Punjab Government will soon have a special IT cadre for effective implementation of its ambitious e-Governance initiatives as part of the ‘Digital Punjab’ mission.
Cadre’s selection criteria as well as its management for various categories of posts would be finalised by a committee constituted by the Chief Minister. The personnel recruited under the cadre would be deputed to various state government departments for the purpose of extending technical guidance and support for e-governance programme or initiatives.
The cadre will provide technical assistance to the departments involved in the execution of various e-Governance or m-Governance projects by ensuring their timely implementation, as well as support in Business Process Re-engineering and Simplification of the processes.
The move will also help foster the state’s IT capabilities by building a cadre of IT professionals to be recruited through a well-structured process, an official spokesperson said after the cabinet meeting.
The need for the cadre was felt by the Government on account of the general lack of capacity in various departments for proper implementation of Administrative or Governance Reforms, e-Governance and backend computerisation initiatives.
The specialized IT manpower would help the departments coordinate closely with the Department of Governance Reforms, enabling efficacious implementation of Enterprise Architecture and various e-Governance Projects including e-Office.
CABINET SUB-COMMITTEE TO TACKLE GROWING STRAY CATTLE MENACE; Rs 10L TO ALL DCs TO OPEN GAUSHALAS
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has formed a five-member Cabinet Sub-Committee to check the growing menace of stray cattle in the state. He also announced Rs 10 lakh each to the Deputy Commissioners for opening an additional gaushalas in their respective districts to address the problem.
The committee, headed by Animal Husbandry Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, has PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla, Local Government Minister Brahm Mahindra, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora as members.
It has been mandated to suggest ways and means to tackle the problem of stray cattle in a holistic manner, to save precious human lives due to fatal accidents caused by the animals.
Reviewing the status of gaushalas already operational in all the districts, the Chief Minister asked the Deputy Commissioners to open one more gaushala in their respective districts with the help of NGOs, social and religious organisations.
The Chief Minister also directed all the DCs to make elaborate arrangements, in collaboration with the Departments of Rural Development and Panchayats, Local Government and Animal Husbandry, to house the stray cattle in these cattle pounds.
There are currently early 2.5 lakh stray animals in the state and the committee would explore ways to eradicate the menace, besides regularly monitoring the progress of implementation and achievement of the specific targets under the action plan in this regard.
The Sub-Committee would also further mandate the districts administration to undertake the task to finalise the action plan for checking the stray cattle menace in a result-oriented manner.
NEW PERFORMANCE-BASED PADDY CUSTOM MILLING POLICY APPROVED TO CHECK RICE DIVERSION
With more security provisions, including criminal penalty for diversion of rice, the Cabinet has approved the Punjab Custom Milling Policy for Paddy (Kharif 2019-20).
Aimed at ensuring seamless milling of paddy and smooth delivery of rice to the Central Pool from more than 4000 mills operating in the state, the policy would be followed by the state procuring agencies — PUNGRAIN, MARKFED, PUNSUP, and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC), as well as the Food Corporation of India, besides the rice millers or their legal heirs.
The state’s Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs will act as the Nodal Department.
Spokesperson said that the sole criterion for allotment of free paddy to mills during KMS 2019-20 would be the miller's performance in the previous year, KMS 2018-19, and additional percentage-wise incentive would be provided to mills as per their date of delivery of rice against milling of custom milled paddy, including RO paddy in the previous year.
Mills, which had completed their milling by January 31, 2019, would be eligible for additional 15 percent of free paddy, the spokesperson said, adding that those who had completed delivery of rice by February 28, 2019, would get an additional 10 percent of free paddy.
To ensure security of paddy stocks, millers would now be required to furnish bank guarantee equal to the value of five percent of acquisition cost of allocable free paddy above 3000 MTs. The move would further enlarge the ambit of guarantee clause to over 1250 more rice mills, taking the total number of such mills to around 1900.
In addition, millers will also have to deposit Custom Milling Security at the rate of Rs 125 for each MT of paddy stored.
The state is expected to procure 170 Lakh MTs of paddy with total area under paddy sowing being 29 lakh hectares this year coming down from 31.03 Lakh hectares the previous season. The target was to complete the Custom Milling of Paddy, thereby delivering all due rice to Food Corporation of India, by March 31, 2020.
PUNJAB CABINET OKAYS SETTLEMENT SCHEME FOR DEFAULTING MILLERS IN BID TO REVIVE SICK RICE UNITS
To revive sick rice units, the Punjab Cabinet has approved a Dues Recovery and Settlement Scheme 2019-20 for the state’s defaulting rice millers, paving way for the recovery of a significant portion of the Rs 2,041.51 crore outstanding against them on various accounts.
“The millers in default, up to and including crop year 2014-15, shall be eligible to take benefit of this scheme. However, the scheme excludes defaulters who had availed of the One-time Settlement (OTS) scheme of September 2017,” said the spokesperson.
The defaulters would have the option to pay the total recoverable amount, that is the principal recoverable plus 10 percent simple interest per annum, within 30 days from the date of issue of ‘Quantification for Settlement Letter’ (QSL).
They can also choose to pay 50 percent of the total recoverable amount within 30 days and the balance within 60 days from the date of issue of QSL with six percent interest.
