The first full house meeting of the Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday took a series of important decisions, including one-time relaxation in rules to fill 282 vacant posts of staff nurses, extension of the revised agreement with M/S Quarkcity India Pvt. Ltd. for a further period of seven years, and ex-post facto extension for BPSSBY till October 31.This was disclosed by an official spokesperson after a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.The Chief Minister kickstarted the meeting by welcoming the newly appointed ministers, said the spokesperson, adding that Aruna Choudhary could not attend as she was out of town.
Approval to fill posts of staff nurses
Giving details of the decisions, the spokesperson said that, faced with acute shortage of staff nurses in the Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals (GMCHs) across the state, the cabinet had decided to fill the staff nurses posts on contract basis in the Medical Education & Research department through relaxation in the instructions issued by the Personnel department on April 24, 2017, as per which a complete ban had been imposed on future contractual appointments against regular posts.The spokesperson said the move was aimed at upgrading the healthcare facilities for the general public and, at the same time, save the Government Medical Colleges from the threat of disaffiliation from Medical Council of India due to shortage of staff.The cabinet noted that while 282 selections were made against the 462 sanctioned posts was completed by the erstwhile government, the process could not be completed due to imposition of the election code of conduct.
Extension of Quarkcity revised agreement
With respect to the revised agreement with M/S Quarkcity India Pvt. Ltd, the Cabinet approved its extension from November 3, 2023 to November 2, 2030, in line with the original agreement that was signed in year 2003 to create state-of-the-art industrial and urban infrastructure in the state in two phases.The revised agreement was signed for Phase-I of the project, which is under development at Mohali, where the promoter has already invested more than Rs.320 crore till date, out of required minimum fixed capital investment of Rs.500 crore as per agreement. The project, which focuses on IT/IT Enabled Services industry in particular, has huge potential to create quality and lucrative jobs for youth, apart from generating revenue and economic growth for the state.
Ex-post facto extension for BPSSBY till Oct 31
In another decision, the Cabinet gave ex-post facto approval to extend Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana (BPSSBY) till October 31, 2018. The decision to extend the scheme, which provides for cashless health insurance cover to blue card holder families, J-form holder farmers, small traders and construction workers, is aligned with the Central Government’s budget announcement to launch National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) from October, 2018 for providing health insurance upto Rs. 5 lakh to the poor and vulnerable families listed in Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011.
The State Government intends to adopt NHPS for eligible 14.96 lac SECC families and to extend a new restructured state health insurance scheme similar to NHPS for the remaining poor families that are currently being covered under BPSSBY. Since the BPSSBY had expired on March 31, 2018, and NHPS was going to be launched in October 2018, the tenure of the BPSSBY has been extended from April 1, 2018 to October 31, 2018. The BPSSBY scheme is being implemented by the United India Insurance Company Ltd.
Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Project loan
The Cabinet in principle agreed to the proposal for one-time adjustment of interest free loan of Rs.1240 crore payable to M/S Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Project, Bathinda, set up by M/S HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd. (HMEL) against deferred Central Sales Tax collected by HMEL. The modalities and financial implications of the move will be worked out by the Industry and Finance departments, which will submit their recommendations, along with the financial implications at the next cabinet meeting, scheduled for May 15.
Criteria okayed for Medical Officers (Specialist)
The Cabinet today also approved the criteria for the recruitment of Medical Officers (Specialist) through Walk-in-interview by the selection committee in the Health Department following an appropriate amendment.New Sub-Tehsil at Chanarthal and Sub-Division at Dinanagar approved; Shambu Kalan declared new blockFurther, keeping in view the inconvenience faced by the general public of Chanarthal Kalan, the Cabinet decided to create a new Sub-Tehsil at Chanarthal Kalan, covering 55 revenue villages. At present, Chanarthal Kalan is a part of Fatehgarh Sahib Tehsil. It was decided to create a separate sub-tehsil for Chanarthal Kalan as it is one of the largest villages in the state with a population of 3784 as per the 2011 census.
Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers also gave its approval to upgrade Sub-Tehsil Dinanagar to Sub Division/Tehsil in Gurdaspur covering 240 revenue villages. At present, Sub Tehsil, Dinanagar falls in Gurdaspur district as part of Sub Division/Tehsil Gurdaspur. Dinanagar has a population of 23,976 as per 2011 census.A new block Shambu Kalan in Patiala has been created by transferring 32 Gram Panchayats of Ghanaur Block and 56 Gram Panchayats of Rajpura Block to give further impetus to the development activities in the region.