The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the expansion of Chennai, lucknow and Guwahati airports at a cost of Rs 5,082 crore. The Cabinet also approved continuation of the Rs 14,832-crore Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) till 2020 to boost healthcare facilities including creation of AIIMS-like hospitals in Gujarat and Jharkhand and upgradation in many hospitals.
“The Government has taken a historic measure to improve airport infrastructure in the country,” said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, briefing media about the Cabinet decisions. The expansion involves building new terminals in Chennai, Guwahati and lucknow airports at a cost of Rs 2,467 crore, Rs 1,383 crore and Rs 1,232 crore, he said.
The new terminal building approved for the Chennai airport will have a capacity to handle 35 million passengers per annum and take care of the growth requirement till 2027, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
The proposed terminal building at the lucknow airport will have a capacity to handle 13.6 million passengers a year and will cater to growth requirements up to 2030-31. It will be a major force multiplier towards Uttar Pradesh’s growth, Prabhu tweeted. The new terminal building at the Guwahati airport will have an area of 1,02,500 sqm to handle combined annual capacity (old and new terminals) of 9 million passengers per annum. The building would cater to the requirement of passenger growth up to 2026-27.
Under the PMSSY, extended beyond the 12th Five Year Plan to 2019-20, new AIIMS are established and the Government medical colleges are upgraded, an official statement said.
Setting up new AIIMS in various states will also lead to employment generation for nearly 3,000 people in various faculty and non-faculty posts in each of the institutes. Highlighting the benefits of the scheme, Health Minister JP Nadda said that each new AIIMS will add 100 UG (MBBS) and 60 B.Sc (Nursing) seats, 15-20 super specialty departments and around 750 hospital beds.
He said that that various initiatives under the PMSSY will lead to development of apex level medical education and nursing education and connected research facilities.
law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that the Union Cabinet also approved an ordinance to amend the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act. According to the Bill which is pending in Parliament, the specified value of a commercial dispute will be brought down to Rs 3 lakh from the present Rs 1 crore. The proposed ordinance will replace the pending Bill. It would bring down the time taken from the present 1,445 days in resolution of commercial disputes of lesser value.
The Cabinet approved doubling the investment limit to Rs 15 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandan Yojana (PMVVY) to provide increased social security cover to senior citizens. “As a boost to social security initiatives for senior citizens, the investment limit of Rs 7.5 lakh per family in the existing scheme is enhanced to Rs 15 lakh per senior citizen in the modified PMVVY, thereby providing a larger social security cover to the senior citizens,” said an official statement. It will enable up to Rs 10,000 pension per month for senior citizens, the release said.
As of March, 2018, a total number of 2.23 lakh senior citizens are being benefited under the pension scheme which guarantees a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month for a period of 10 years. In the previous scheme of Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana-2014, a total of 3.11 lakh senior citizens are being benefited.