To ensure smooth and timely procurement during the coming Rabi season, the Punjab Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to new food grains transportation as well as labour and cartage policies.
The policies will apply to the various procurement agencies of the State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department including Pungrain, Markfed, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, Punsup, Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation, and also the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which procure food grains from various designated mandis.
To ensure hassle-free lifting during the Rabi 2018-19 procurement season, commencing from April 1, 2018, the cabinet has okayed the new policies for labour and cartage and transportation of wheat from mandis to the storage points.
Under the policies, for smooth transportation and timely lifting of grains, various labour and Cartage (l&C) Societies will be given priority to carry out the operations of labour and cartage at the basic rates.
The remaining work of labour and cartage (up to eight kms) and transportation of wheat, beyond eight kms, will be allocated though a competitive and transparent online tender system.
Apart from the Punjab Food Grains Transportation Policy, 2018-19 and The Punjab labour and Cartage Policy, 2018-19, the cabinet also approved draft notification regarding amendments to the Punjab Food Security Rules, 2016, to specify the provisions related to social audit.
Cabinet okays creation of border cadre for teachers; To take AG’s opinion on recruitment from same districts
Punjab Cabinet on Thursday decided to create a separate cadre of teachers for the six border districts of Pathankot, Amritsar, Fazilka, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. For the same, the government would seek its Advocate-General’s view on recruitment of teachers from their respective districts in border areas under the special cadre.
During the cabinet meeting, some ministers suggested that the border cadre teachers be recruited from the same districts. However, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh advised that the matter be put up to the AG Atul Nanda for his opinion.
Besides, it was also decided to set up a cabinet sub-committee to oversee the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and to examine suggestions of the education department on revamping the education system in government schools.
The cabinet took serious note of the fact that private schools continued to deprive poor students of admission despite reservations for them under the RTE Act.
The sub-committee, comprising Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Higher Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary, Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, will submit its report within 15 days.
The cabinet also informally discussed the Education Department’s proposal on formulating a policy for rationalisation of the teacher-student ratio to make it more balanced, as also suggested by the central Government.
The department has been asked by the cabinet to present a formal proposal in this regard in the next meeting.
Earlier, the cabinet, which approved 19 draft service rules for various cadres in the school education department, discussed the need for special cadre for the border districts.
It was decided that the employees appointed in the border cadre would have their separate promotion channels.
NEW TOURISM POlICY APPROVED
Aiming to double tourist arrivals in the State in five years, Punjab cabinet on Thursday approved a draft of Punjab State Tourism Policy-2018 having plans to promote several thematic circuits including agri-tours, the Amitsar circuit, the frontier trail among others.
Other circuits that would be promoted include the Mughal Circuit; the Maharajah Circuit, the Patiala Trail, the ludhiana Circuit, the Chandigarh Circuit, Nature Circuit, Taste Punjab, the Punjab Retreat, Fashionable Punjab, Punjab in Style and Festive Punjab.
The circuit touring concept would be promoted to attract specific segments of the market. The policy aims to make the state a world-class destination in five years.
The state cabinet agreed that the new policy would help attract high value tourism through development of resources and a series of initiatives, including information dissemination through the social media.
The new policy, to replace the existing tourism policy of 2003, also aimed at providing impetus to rural tourism, medical tourism, heritage tourism and film tourism.
Under the policy, the state government will work relentlessly to double the annual tourist visits from 25 million to 50 million in the next five years, the release said.
Training and capacity building activities will be made available, under the skill development programme, to the maximum number of people, thus helping in employment generation for local youth.
The policy also envisages investment promotion in tourism through an investment portfolio for the information and motivation of potential investors.
With electronic methods and social media deployment high on the agenda, the marketing operations would be managed by a team of well-qualified and experienced professionals.
“During 2016, a total of 6.60 lakh foreign tourists visits were recorded in the state, as against 2.43 lakh in 2015, while the number of domestic tourist visits stood at 3.87 crore in 2016 as against 2.58 crore in 2015, helping Punjab attain the 13th rank in domestic tourist visits and 10th rank in foreign tourists visits,” said the spokesperson.
ADVERTISEMENT POlICY, WITH Rs 200 CR EXPECTED REVENUE, APPROVED
In a move expected to generate an additional Rs 200 crore in revenue, the Punjab Cabinet on Thursday approved the state's new outdoor advertisement policy.
The Punjab Municipal Outdoor Advertisement Policy-2018 aimed at regulating the process of outdoor advertising in order to address technological changes in the field while ensuring greater public safety.
The new policy stipulates provisions relating to permissible content on outdoor advertisement and also provides for identification of suitable places where advertisement rights can be awarded.
In the absence of such a policy, the government was being deprived of much-needed revenue while private companies were making money, local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu told the cabinet, underlining the need for drastic changes to the existing norms.
The policy was aimed at awarding advertising rights through e-tendering, e-auction, e-bidding by municipalities, without causing traffic or any other type of hindrances in the towns.
Under the policy, separate advertisement sites or spaces have been proposed to be reserved for government advertisements which can be utilized by the government whenever required.
SEPT MINING, GEOlOGY DEPTS TO BE SETUP
Punjab Government has decided to hive off mining and geology from its Department of Industries and Commerce and set it up as a separate unit to ensure sustainable development of the sector.
The decision, taken in line with the system followed by various other states, will entail no additional monetary burden for the state since the cadre of the new department, which will have 598 employees, will be drawn from the Department of Water Resources.
It was noted that with the expansion of mining activities, there were growing environmental, administrative and legal as well as marketing and financial challenges, which required special focus on mining activities.
This had become even more important with the introduction of the progressive bidding regime, which had led to the mining sector emerging as a significant contributor to the states revenues.
KEY PlANNING, POlICY DEPTS TO BE RENAMED
To ensure more focused policy formulation, the Punjab Cabinet has approved restructuring and renaming of key departments relating to planning and policy.
A go-ahead was given to renaming the Department of Planning as Department of Economic Policy and Planning, while the Punjab State Planning Board will be known as Economic Policy and Planning Board.
“This will help the two units to primarily focus more cogently on formulating policies for the development of the state, and on monitoring and reviewing the implementation of these policies, besides suggesting mid-course corrections,” said the spokesperson.