In view of a decline in COVID-19 cases in the state, Himachal Government on Monday decided to restore the six-day work week for employees with immediate effect.
The cabinet, during its meeting under Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, however, decided to continue the night curfew from 10 pm to 6 until further orders.
All government offices will remain open as usual for six days a week with 100 per cent capacity, said an official spokesman.
As COVID-19 cases had seen a surge owing to the third wave of the pandemic, the government had restricted its offices to work five days a week and with 50 per cent capacity.
Employees with disabilities and pregnant women will continue to work from home, the spokesperson said.
Educational institutions may reopen their doors for classes 9 -12 from February 3. Higher education institutions, too, can resume activities. The cabinet has also permitted reopening of coaching classes, libraries, gyms and clubs from February 3, the spokesman said.
It also relaxed restrictions on public gatherings allowing a maximum of 500 people for outdoor and 250 people for indoor events, with the facilities running at 50 per cent of their capacity, subject to adherence to the COVID-19 safety protocols and COVID appropriate behaviour.
While shops are permitted to function as usual, community kitchen (langar) services will remain suspended until further orders, the spokesperson said.
HP budget to be presented on March 4
Himachal Government will present its budget for the financial year 2022-23 on March 4.
The cabinet decided that the budget session from February 23 to March 15 will have 16 sittings and the budget will be presented on March 4.
During the meeting, the cabinet also decided to enhance the annual income limit for availing benefits of various pension schemes from the existing Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 per annum, the spokesman said
The new revision in the scheme launched by the Social Justice and Empowerment Department will benefit about 78,158 additional individuals.
The spokesman said that the State Government has also decided to bear the Aadhaar authentication charge of 25 paise per transaction, which is currently being imposed on ration card holders. This will benefit about 19,30,000 ration card holders in the state and the government will incur an additional cost of about Rs 55.58 lakh in this connection, he added.
The cabinet has also approved Himachal Pradesh Integrated Drug Prevention Policy to curb drug menace in the state.
This policy aims at strengthening inter-governmental and inter agency coordination under multi-literal cooperation mechanism by sharing seizure statistics, joint drug law enforcement operations and establishment of joint interrogation centre.