As fresh tremors rocked several parts of Jharkhand along with northern and eastern States on Tuesday morning, the Jharkhand Government has decided to increase the cap on disaster relief and rehabilitation works for each district. The Cabinet that met for the first time in Chaibasa in West Singhbhum revised the relief amount by more than five times.
Expressing condolence over loss of lives and properties due to earthquake in Nepal and tremors felt in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Raghubar Das said the natural disaster could happen any time and any place and the Government felt it was necessary to increase the amount.
“We want to be prepared for any natural calamity so we have resolved to take initiatives. Earlier, Deputy Commissioners of the district were authorised to pay rehabilitation and relief amount to the tune of `5 lakh but now we have decided to hike the amount to `25 lakh,” said the Chief Minister, following the meeting held at Old Circuit House building. All the Cabinet Ministers except Parliamentary Affairs and Civil Supplies Minister Saryu Roy and Urban Development and Disaster Management Minister CP Singh were present along with senior officials of various departments.
This apart, the Cabinet also stamped hiking the dearness allowance (DA) for Government employees with effect from January 1, 2015. The new rate of DA would be from existing 107 per cent to 113 per cent.
Also, emoluments for Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers, leader of Opposition and Assembly members were increased. The Chief Minister’s annual emolument was raised from `17.22 lakh to `24.60 lakh while a Cabinet Minister’s annual emolument was hiked from `15.30 lakh to `21.60 lakh while MlAs would be getting from `11.62 lakh to `21.64 lakh.
The meeting also decided to spend `282 crore on constructing and widening of 145 km of roads in different districts. Principal Secretary of Cabinet Coordination SK Satpathy said the Cabinet has sanctioned `152.5 crore for Khunti-Torpa-Kolebira (82.055 km), `35.9 crore for Jhinkpani- Jorapokhar-Tonto road (21.47 km), `39.22 crore for Ranchi ring road (6.160 km), `34.46 crore for Ukhori-Akarshani-Gondpur road in Seraikela-Kharsawan (14.984 km) and nearly `20 crore for Bansari-Karampada road in Chaibasa.”
Adhering to the demands of Chamber of Commerce, the Cabinet also decided to abolish the practice of charging of turnover tax from market by the Krishi Bazaar Utpadhan Samity (KUBS) an unit of the state agriculture marketing board on 210 agriculture items. Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Nitin Madan Kulkarni said power to erect check posts and charging market cess from farmers and businessmen had been withdrawn.
The Cabinet also okayed transferring skill development segment from the Planning Department to the labour and Training department. This apart, compensation for those killed during election duty for panchayat elections would also be paid. “The Cabinet decided to fix compensation amount for those dying during panchayat election at `10 lakh while 20 lakh for those who killed in naxal violence,” said Satpathy.
Also decision to pay honorarium to gram panchayat (`200 per month), zila parishad members (`1500 per month) and panchayat mukhiya (`750 per month) was taken by the Cabinet. It further decided to constitute State Consumer Protection Board at the districts and State level.