The State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here on Tuesday decided to add 10,000 seats to Scheduled Caste students’ hostels by upgrading 20, 25 and 30-seater hostels to 50- seater under the 12th Five-Year Plan.
In the meeting held at the State Assembly premises, the Cabinet sanctioned 595 contractual posts of superintendent for pre-matric hostels and 15 contractual superintendents for running new pre-matric hostels and 15 post-matric hostels with increased seats. Besides, 2,150 posts of class IV employees and 610 post of part-time sanitary workers were also sanctioned. The cabinet decided to open 10 new post-matric hostels in year 2014-15.
The Cabinet also gave nod to allot on lease 160 acre land of Government Seed Multiplication Farm, Nabibagh, Bhopal to National Institute of Agriculture Research, New Delhi to establish a national-level agriculture engineering institute. Through the institute, farmers of Madhya Pradesh as well as other States will get new techniques and agricultural implements.
The Cabinet decided to enter into long-term power purchase agreements for purchase of renewable energy except solar energy at the tariff prescribed by Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission till the Union Power Ministry issues guidelines-directives about long-term power purchase of renewable power on competitive rates. The Cabinet decided to exempt from electricity duty on sale or purchase of power from state-owned distribution companies.