Thousands of government vehicles in the State which are more than 15 years old will now be converted to scrap. A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the State cabinet chaired by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday. The chief secretary SS Sandhu said that apart from scrapping old vehicles of government and local bodies, the owners of the old vehicles will be encouraged to convert their vehicles into scrap and for it a rebate of 25 per cent on tax on purchase of new vehicles will be given to private vehicle owners. Similarly 15 per cent rebate on the tax on purchase of new commercial vehicles will be given. The CS said that there are more than 5,200 government vehicles in the State which will be converted to scrap under the new policy.
In a decision aimed at promoting production of aromatic plants and herbs in the Van Panchayats in the State, the cabinet approved the Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) and herbal and aroma tourism project. The CS said that there are 12,000 Van Panchayats in 11 mountainous districts of the State and they cover about 4,500 square kilometres of forest land. He said that the Rs 628 crore project will be launched in two phases. In the first phase (year 2023-24 to 2027-28) the project will cover 200 Van Panchayats while in the second phase (year 2028-29 to 2032-33), 300 Van Panchayats will be covered.
In another decision the cabinet approved the setting up of the state level Spring and River Rejuvenation Authority (SARA). The objective of the proposal is to increase the water harvesting in the State during the monsoon period by construction of thousands of check dams on the rivulets and streams in the State. The government has constituted 195 posts for the authority and under it four committees will be constituted. These committees are High Power Committee (HPC) headed by chief secretary, State level executive committee headed by additional chief secretary/ principal secretary/ secretary, district level committee (headed by district magistrate) and the Dhara Naula Sanrakshan committee headed by village Pradhan concerned.
In a major relief to thousands of the employees who were recruited after October 1, 2005 and covered under the New Pension Scheme, the State cabinet decided that the option of old pension scheme (OPS) will be made available to those whose recruitment advertisements and notifications were issued before the aforementioned date.
The CS said that in recent years a large number of new bridges on the roads were constructed due to which old bridges were declared abandoned. He said that the State cabinet approved the plan to develop amenities over these abandoned bridges. Under the plan, food stations, toilets and restraints will be developed by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) over the abandoned bridges. The CS said that initially three abandoned bridges on the Char Dham Yatra route (Devli Bagar, Pakhi Jalgwar and Gular) will be taken up under the plan. In another decision the cabinet approved the plan to appoint 123 Yoga trainers in the 119 government colleges and four State universities. These trainers will be given Rs 300 per day not exceeding Rs 18,000 in a month. The cabinet also gave its nod to convert the Kempty Fall area near Mussoorie to Nagar Panchayat. The move will help in planned development of the area. The state will implement the Model Prison Manual -2016 of the government of India in the Jails of the State. More than 35,000 class IV employees of the State will now be given a uniform allowance of Rs 2,400 per year. The cabinet also gave its approval to release Rs 8.85 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for organising the Sixth World Congress on Disaster Management in Dehradun.
