The budget of Uttarakhand for the year 2020-21 is expected to be around Rs 53,000 crore which is about 10 per cent more than that of last year. The State Cabinet on the day gave its approval for the budget proposals and final draft of the address of the Governor.
The Budget session of the Uttarakhand Assembly is commencing on March 3 and the governor Baby Rani Maurya would address the house on the opening day. As the budget session has been notified there was no official briefing of the decisions of the cabinet on Saturday. However it is learnt that a total of 13 issues came up for discussion in the cabinet on the day. It approved 12 issues and constituted a committee on one. On the subject of merger of the Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam, the cabinet decided to set up a committee headed by cabinet minister Subodh Uniyal. This committee would recommend the process to be adopted for unification of these two departments. The cabinet on the day also gave its approval for the new excise policy. The approval of service regulation of the nursing cadre in the health department was also given on the day. The department has 160 posts of sister nurse and 1091 posts of staff nurse. According to the regulation 80 percent of posts would be reserved for females. Similarly the cabinet also gave its consent on the service regulation for the physiotherapy and occupational therapy on the day. It was also decided to increase the number of posts in the state planning commission from 101 to 126. The proposed Youth commission would also be a part of the planning commission. In an important decision, the cabinet dissolved the Uttarakhand river bank development corporation as it had become redundant. The transport department would now have 625 posts. The department has a sanctioned strength of 521 posts, the cabinet on the day decided to constitute 116 new posts and dissolve 12 posts. The cabinet gave approval to the proposal for conversion of 3522 square meter of land from Kumbh area land to residential. The Leuva Patel community of Gujarat would construct an ashram on this land. The cabinet also decided to table a bill in state assembly for reconstitution of the Gairsain Development Council. In the changed setup, the housing minister would be the chairman of the council in place of speaker of assembly. The Principal Secretary Tourism and revenue would be the members of the council. The cabinet also gave its approval for merger of two officers, Project Manager and Senior Residential engineer in the Bridge ropeway, tunnel and other infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (BRIDCUL). These officers are presently working on deputation. The cabinet also approved the ‘Uttarakhand Aerospace and Defence technology policy’ on the day.