Alarmed over the increase in deaths in road mishaps, the UP government has made helmets mandatory for pillion riders on two wheelers. Besides it opened the job market by announcing over 40,000 vacancies in Nagar Nigam and 700 vacancies in Jal Nigam.
The decisions, among others, were taken in a cabinet meeting held in lucknow on Thursday.
A government spokesman said that the cabinet has approved amendment in the UP Motor Vehicles Act, 1998, under which it has been made mandatory for the driver and his pillion rider to wear helmets. The Supreme Court has also asked the state governments to implement a similar law, the spokesman said.
Till now, only the driver of two-wheelers, including mopeds, were supposed to wear helmets. The driver or the pillion rider wearing a turban has been exempted from this order.
Withe Assembly polls approaching, the Akhilesh Yadav government has opened the job market announcing 40,000 appointments of Safai Karamcharis in Nagar Nigam. The selection would be made on the basis of marks and the cabinet has approved changes in the selection panel. Reservation policy would be followed in this selection, the spokesman said.
Besides, the state government has decided to appoint 726 Junior Engineers in Jal Nigam which will be done by a selection panel of Jal Nigam. Earlier, the Service Selection Board used to appoint JEs in the Corporation.
It was also decided to increase financial help to poor girls of minority community including Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Budhist, Christians and Jains for their marriage from the existing Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.
The help will be given to only those families living under BPl and who have an annual income of Rs 56,460 in urban areas and Rs 46,800 in rural areas. This help will be extended to only two daughters of a family.
In another decision, the government decided to open a Homeopathy college in Gorakhpur and has announced the increase of 60 beds in Heart Hospital in Kanpur. Government has also decided to covert Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital in lucknow as Super-specialty hospital.
The cabinet has approved that if required, additional land can be taken from the Information Department premises which stands cheek by jowl to the Civil hospital.
Incidentally, the cabinet decided to attach super specialty status to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee hospital on the death anniversary of the BJP ideologue.
Similarly, the cabinet approved a budgetary sanction of Rs 463.28 crore for setting up of 500-bed hospital in RIMS, Saifai.
Government has also approved Rs 2593.93 crore for Arjun Sahayak scheme under which lehchura Dam over Dhasaan river would be renovated. The dam area of Chandrwal and Karwai dams will also be increased, spokesman said.
The cabinet has given its nod for the construction of a state guest house in Dwaraka, New Delhi and construction of a bridge over river Ganga at Sri Rampur Ghat in Ballia.
Government has also formulated a policy for government advertisements for web portals and websites. These websites should have minimum of three years of existence and registered under DAVP. Only those portals would be entitled for government ads which have a minimum 2.5 lakh hits per month.
A sewage treatment plant would be constructed at the vacant area between Zoo, DGP office and dalibagh around Haider canal. Besides lucknow will have a 400 kv sub-station which will come up on Hardoi Road.
The government has also announced new Molasses Policy under which reserve has been increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent against wishes of sugar lobby.
The cabinet also approved Rs 20165.85 lakh for chanalisation and improvement of banks of river Varuna in Varanasi. Similarly, it approved Rs 177.81 crore for the beautification of ghats in Mathura and Vridavan.