Amid reports of displeasure of some of its colleagues fueled by absence of 5 Ministers, State Cabinet met at Bijapur guest house on Wednesday morning and announced a slew of schemes before the model code of conduct was imposed in the State.
The Cabinet decided to distribute laptops for those meritorious students who secure 80% and more marks in the intermediate examinations. The laptops would also be given to the college, technical college, Medical and Ayush students who would secure 70% or more marks. Bowing to the demand job in education department by the various agitating federations the cabinet decided that 2394 vacant posts in primary schools of the state would be filled by B.Ed /TET, D.El.Ed qualified youths by March 31.
It also assured that further 1200 new posts in these schools would be created in next two years. The Cabinet also appropriated a corpus of rupees 50 crores for improving the slum areas under Nirmal Bharat scheme.
The cabinet decided to appeal to Government of India for de notification of the Damvadunga Jawahar Jyoti area and add it to the Haldwani- Kathgodam municipal corporation.
Giving benefit to 2379 small scale industrial units of the State the cabinet decided to waive the late payment surcharge on the electricity bills for this the government would provide a subsidy of Rupees 4.26 crores to the Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl).
An Uttarakhand Horticulture development company would be established for promotion of horticulture in the state. The cabinet also approved the service amendment rule 2014 for the Government primary teachers. The state cabinet decided to increase the aid for promoting girl education under the Gora Devi Kanya Dhan Yojna from Rupees 25000 to Rupees 50000. The cabinet also decided to decrease the road tax for buses and taxis which are having green cards for the period June 2014 to June 2016. To protect the agriculture from the wild animals the cabinet gave its acceptance for the creations of “Chief Minister’s scheme for protecting agriculture from Wild animals”.
The Cabinet also approved amendment in the Bhotia Grazing Rules 1927, which will help the shepherds of the state. The cabinet decided to give monetary benefit of 2 lakhs rupees each for two cultural groups in both the divisions of the state. It also decided to honour writers and authors of local languages and approved a project to connect the old fairs of the state with tourism.
The creation of a Martyr memorial in all the district headquarters, creation of a corpus of 5 crore each for folk singers and teachers, 10% increase in stipend of all ad hock employees and to implement the Food Guarantee act form June 1 were some of the important decisions which the cabinet took on Wednesday.