The State Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal for establishment of a separate Directorate of Steel for growth of the steel sector.
The Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, approved as many as 14 proposals.
The proposed directorate would be operational from April 1. It will not only look into the problems faced by investors and but also advise the State Government to take up policy initiatives for the steel sector.
Now, the Directorate of Mines is taking care of the mineral sector and the Ipicol is handling investors’ issues. The directorate would be a composite one headed by an officer of Additional Secretary rank.
The Cabinet approved proposals to increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) from 13.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent on fashionable and expensive products. With this, cost of cars, motorcycles, fridges, washing machines and TVs would be increased.
Similarly, a proposal to increase 10 per cent VAT on foreign liquor to 35 per cent from the existing 25 per cent as approved. It is expected that Rs 140 crore more would come to the State Exchequer as excise revenue.
The Cabinet also approved exemption of VAT on input materials for the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.
However, a proposal to increase VAT on petrol and diesel was left on the Finance Department. The Government is now suffering Rs 417 crore annually for reduction of VAT amount due to fluctuation of prices of petrol and diesel.
The Cabinet approved the Health and Family Welfare Department’s proposal for relaxation recruitment rules of AYUSH assistants. While 30 per cent weightage would be given to career marks, 70 per cent would be on written test.
A proposal to amend the Odisha Administrative Service Rule was also approved.
The proposal placed by the Skill Development and Technical Education Department for amendment of the Odisha Professional Education (OPE) Act was approved. With this approval, the State Government is now empowered to decide on the method of admission in the engineering colleges. It may participate in the JEE Main or go for OJEE for admissions. Similarly, the Government will have the power to ask engineering colleges to fill up their vacant seats.
Besides, it approved a proposal for relaxation in penalty on local steel industries under the long-term linkage policy (lTlP). local industries were earlier provided 70 per cent of iron ore and 50 per cent chrome ore for their total production by the OMC. With the approval of the amendment, there would now be relaxation in the MoU provision under the lTIP.