The Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday gave its go-ahead for a new compensation policy to be formulated for the victims of accidents and fire, as well as the martyrs from the Army, Paramilitary forces and Punjab Police.The cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, also took a slew of other important decisions to realize a series of other vital promises of the Captain Amarinder led government, including financial aid for female acid victims and renaming of the `Shagun Scheme’ as `Ashirward Scheme.’Under the proposed 'The Punjab Financial Assistance to Acid Victims Scheme 2017', women victims of acid attacks will be provided Rs.8000 per month per head aid by the Department of Social Security and Development of Women & Children, Punjab. The proposal, to which the cabinet gave its approval, will enable the victims or their family members/relatives to apply for the aid to the District Social Security Officer of the concerned district. The sanctioning authority will be a District Level Committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, and the victim will receive the payment directly in her bank account, the spokesperson revealed.Besides approving the change of name of 'Shagun Scheme' to 'Ashirwad Scheme', the cabinet gave the go-ahead to online payment under the same for the beneficiaries, directly into their bank accounts.
The Cabinet also decided to extend the contract of the Pharmacists working as service providers and class IV employees in 1186 Subsidiary Health Centres of Zila Parishads in Rural Development & Panchayats Department. The extension will be for one year, from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, or till regular recruitment (whichever is earlier) at the existing rates of Rs.7000 and Rs.3000 per month respectively.In recognition of the supreme sacrifice made by former Chief Minister Late Beant Singh to end terrorism and maintain peace and harmony in the state, the Punjab Cabinet also approved the appointment of his grandson Guriqbal Singh as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in the Police department against the direct quota post. The service rules have been relaxed to enable the appointment as a special case, said the spokesperson.The Cabinet also decided to grant extension to Advisor Civil Aviation Captain Abhay Chandra for a period of five years from May 10, 2017 to May 9, 2022, to carry out VIP flying operations besides handling other important issues of the Department of Civil Aviation.The Cabinet further ratified and granted ex-post facto approval to the appointment of Senior Advocate Atul Nanda as Advocate General of Punjab.