In recognition with the enormous contribution of Punjab soldiers in the Defence Forces of the country, the Cabinet gave approval to enhance the ex-gratia grants admissible to the soldiers, who were either martyred or disabled during their call on duty of various operations specified within the geographical limits of the country.A decision to this effect was taken by the state Cabinet during its meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal here at CMO this morning.Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that as per the decision, the soldier who was martyred during counter insurgency operation, his family would get Rs. five lac instead of Rs. two lac, above 75% disabled soldiers would get Rs. four lac instead of Rs. two lac, 51% to 75 % disabled soldiers would get Rs. two lac instead of Rs. one lac and 25% to 50% disabled soldiers would get Rs. one lac instead of Rs. 50,000/-.
In a bid to provide the facility of city bus service to the urban populace, the Cabinet today gave nod to extend this service in the remaining cities of the state for the convenience of the inhabitants of these cities. It may be mentioned that the state government had already made a provision of city bus service within the municipal limits of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar for the convenience of general public. It was decided that the state transport undertakings would operate their Stage Carriage Buses as per the provision of City Bus Service Scheme notified recently. These buses would be made operational within the municipal limits of these respective cities as well as up to 10 Kms area adjoining outside the municipal limits to provide city bus service for the people residing within those areas. After the provision of city bus service within the municipal limits of different cities, the use of personalized vehicles, unnecessary congestion and level of vehicle pollution was expected to come down.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal of Department of Food & Civil Supplies for setting up ‘Integrated Foodgrain Management Project’ at village Seron in district Tarn Taran. The project would be established at the land where the sugar mill existed earlier. This land has been transferred by the State Cooperative Department to the Food & Civil Supplies Department to set up this project, which would create processing capacity, scientific storage such as silos besides a state-of-the-art laboratory and modern scientific godowns would be constructed. The project would help the farmers of the area to get appropriate price of their Basmati produce. The procurement agencies would not be forced to send the paddy for shelling to distant places rather Basmati/paddy would be shelled locally and this would help in saving crores of Rupees which the state agencies have to spend every year for transporting the paddy from Tarn Taran to other districts. This would also result in employment generation in this border area.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal for appointment of three members in the Food Commission constituted by the state government under the provision of Section 16 of National Food Security Act, 2013. Pertinently, the Food Commission has been constituted in the light of Government of India’s National Food Security Act, 2013, to safeguard food and nutritional security to citizens by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable price so as to enable the people to live a life with dignity. These members would help the commission to function efficiently for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of this Act in the right earnest.
In order to streamline the functioning of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) and to accelerate the infrastructure development in the state, the Cabinet also gave approval for conversion of the Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 into a bill. It may be recalled that state Cabinet in its earlier meeting on November 19, 2015 had approved certain amendments in the Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 by promulgating an ordinance i.e., the Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) (Second Amendment) ordinance, 2015.
To ensure effective implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act 2006, the Cabinet also gave approval for the framing of new Service Rules for the up-gradation/promotion of 33 posts and creation of 44 new posts to be filled up by direct recruitment for the newly created Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). In accordance to the provision of FSSAI Act, an IAS Officer in the rank of Secretary shall be deputed as Commissioner, FSSAI, the state government has already deputed Secretary Health as Commissioner Food Safety. Similarly, the Government of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has issued guidelines to implement effectively the amended Drugs & Cosmetics Act/Rules, at once in the whole country with the objective to implement equally in all the states. The major objective for implementation of the amended Drugs and Cosmetics Act was to make available Standard Quality Drugs, Blood & Cosmetics and further to effectively weed out Not of Standard Quality Drugs from the market.
The Cabinet accorded the ex-post facto approval for operation of train under ‘Mukh Mantri Teerath Darshan Yatra Scheme’ for Christian Community from Punjab to Chennai from March 8-13, 2016. The Cabinet also approved the Ex-post facto approval for presently operated four buses daily since January 4, 2016 under the ‘Mukh Mantri Teerath Darshan Yatra Scheme’ from Punjab to Salasar and return journey and also issued approval to operation of such buses by PRTC for operation from Punjab to Chintpurni under the scheme.
In another significant decision to minimize the pollution caused to environment due to excessive use of plastic carry bags, the Punjab Cabinet has also accorded approval to the Punjab Plastic Carry Bags (Manufacture, usage and Disposal), Control (Amendment) Bill, 2016. It may be recalled that the governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have already put such ban in their states. The state Cabinet in its previous meeting held on December 22, 2015 has given approval for the issuance of an ordinance to insert clause-2 in Section 7 of the Punjab Plastic Carry Bags (Manufacture, usage and Disposal), Control Act, 2005. After the issuance of the Punjab Plastic Carry Bags (Manufacture, usage and Disposal), Control (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 (Punjab Ordinance no 1 of 2016) w.e.f. February 1, 2016, the Government of Punjab, Department of Local Government has prohibited the manufacture, sale and use of plastic carry bag in the jurisdiction of all the Municipal Corporations, Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayats w.e.fApril 1, 2016 by issuance of a notification no.5/18/2016-4lg4/692717/1 dated February 18, 2016. Subsequently, the State Rural Development and Panchayats Department has also issued a standing orders dated February 18, 2016 in this regard.
To regularize the unauthorized constructions in walled city in Amritsar on the “as is where is” basis, the Cabinet also gave its approval to the recommendations of the Cabinet sub-committee for presenting a Bill to this effect in the ensuing Budget session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha for consideration. It was however decided that the compounding charges would be notified by the government separately.The Cabinet also gave approval to the recommendations of the Punjab State e-Governance Society (PSeGS) for implementation of operation , maintenance and management proposals of 2174 Unified Service Delivery Centres in the state from where all services of all departments were to be made available to the citizens near their homes. The department through its implementing agency PSeGS has been entrusted the responsibility of establishing and operating these centres through a system integrator.