In a bid to increase the revenue of the state, the Punjab Cabinet today gave nod to commence On-line Lottery system which would be organized, conducted, operated and regulated as per the provisions of the Lottery Regulation Act, 1998 and Punjab State Lotteries Rules, 1998. A decision to this effect was taken in a Cabinet meeting Chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal here at CMO this morning.
Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the CMO said that the On-line lottery system was envisaged to offer lottery games played through a network of computer terminals or such other devices as may be approved by the government, installed at retail locations, with the terminals connected to a main data center at a central headquarter. For this purpose, the government would appoint a Distributor/selling agent who would inter-alia design and procure, install and commission, operate and maintain, promote & market and carry out other activities to be required for setting up and managing the On-line lottery. The selection of the distributor/selling agent would be done through Tenders and Monitoring Committee.
The Cabinet reviewed the situation of availability of sand and construction material and in order to expedite the auction of more mines and increase the availability of sand, gravel (bajri) etc., gave go ahead for amendments of rules, auction procedure, lease policy and policy guidelines for stone crushers to enable a level playing field to all the stake holders in the infrastructure/construction projects. As a price regulatory measure, the Cabinet also decided that some mines would be operated by the industry department so that the material was made available at affordable rates. The Cabinet also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary which would regularly monitor the situations in this regard. The Cabinet also approved the amendment in the existing policy regarding purchase of the land for compensatory afforestation due to non availability of degraded forest land in the state.
As per the amendment every user agency which required forest land should provide equivalent non-forest land or pay its cost to the Forest department. Funds, thus generated would be utilized for the purchase non-forest land by the department for carrying out afforestation. The policy exempts all the Government sector cases and certain roads to be constructed on BoT basis besides the land owners of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 areas from the condition of the payment of cost of equivalent non-forest land. The department had already transferred 50% of the funds nearly Rs.32 crore along with interest received thereof to the greening Punjab Mission Fund.The Cabinet also decided to amend the Punjab Act and Pepsu Act enabling NRIs to get their all ancestral or five years old properties vacated expeditiously. Earlier, they could get only one property vacated.
The Cabinet approved the revival and filling up of 175 vacant posts of different teaching and non teaching staff in the Industrial Training Department besides the creation of 30 regular and 25 outsourced posts for setting up of instructor training wing with the assistance from World Bank at Govt. Industrial Training Institute, Lalru. This decision would help the state to build capacity for skill development and start apprenticeship training in Micro, Small and Medium entrepreneurship besides providing quality training and gainful employment to the youth of the state.
In order to give impetus to horticulture sector in the state, the Cabinet also allowed the Horticulture department to recruit 45 Horticulture Development Officers (HDOs) besides creating five new posts each of HDOs Entomology & Pathology and three HDOs (Soils) to provide adequate and effective services to Horticulturists in five Citrus Estates set up at Abohar, Tahliwala, Badal, Hoshiarpur and Bhunga. The Cabinet also gave permission for the up-gradation of six HDOs as Assistant Director Horticulture.
The Cabinet also gave approval to grant extension in the contract of Health/Veterinary Pharmacist and Sweepers working as service providers @ Rs.7000 and Rs.3000 per month respectively in 1186 subsidiary health centers and 582 veterinary hospitals under Zila Parishads w.e.f. June 1, 2013 to November 30, 2013 in the public interest as a stop gap arrangement up to November 30, 2013 or till regular recruitment, whichever is earlier. In a bid to boost the livestock sector and promote dairy farming as a push towards persification of agriculture, the Cabinet approved the revival of 115 posts of Veterinary Officer and 175 Veterinary Inspectors so as to provide the best veterinary care services to the dairy farmers.
The Cabinet also gave go ahead to amend the rule 215, 218, 219, 220, 222, 225, 227, 229, 231, 233, 234, 235 along with forms of the Punjab Motor Vehicles, Rules, 1989 regarding Motor accidents claims tribunal rules. The implementation of this scheme would ensure prompt release of financial benefits to the family members of the victims.
The Cabinet also approved to provide 214 posts of various levels for running three Drug De-addiction Centers at Amritsar, Patiala and Jalandhar effectively and in a result-oriented manner to wean away the youth from the menace of drug addiction.
The Council of Ministers also decided to contribute 10% of their discretionary funds placed at their disposal towards the creation of corpus fund for the construction of Jang-E-Azadi Memorial. An amount to the tune of Rs.2,87,50,000/- has been sent directly to the foundation instead of Cultural Affairs department for the establishment of ‘Jang-E-Azadi’ Memorial. It may be recalled that the Cabinet in its meeting held on October 23, 2012 had decided that each Cabinet Minister and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) would annually contribute Rs.10 lakh and Rs.7.50 lakh respectively out of their discretionary funds.The Cabinet also gave approval to revive 16 posts in the office of Lokpal Punjab to ensure its effective and smooth functioning.
The Cabinet also gave ex-post facto approval in respect of the amendment in the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996 (Second Amendment) Act, 2013 to bring the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Zila Prishad and its officials; Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, Deputy Mayor of a Municipal Corporation and its official besides the President and Vice President of a Municipal Council or Nagar Panchayat and its officials under the jurisdiction of Lokpal Act. This decision would enable the Lokpal to look into the complaints of corruption and mal administration against the functionaries of local bodies (both elected and officials).
The Cabinet also approved the draft bill for the enactment of Punjab Horse Race (Regulation & Management) Act, 2013 to provide for setting up, management and operation of race courses, betting activities and intermediaries involved and also for licensing, regulation, control and management of horse races on race courses, maintaining and keeping of horses at race courses, exhibition of horses and other processes of horse race and all matter connected therewith and incidental thereto etc.
The Cabinet also approved the exemption of fee charged for the registered mortgage deed in the larger public interest. Likewise the Cabinet also approved the loan of Rs.1500 crore raised by PUDA against OUVGL properties. The decision is aimed at triggering the tempo of growth and development in the state.
With a view to ensuring the best health care and diagnostic facilities to the people across the state, the Cabinet also cleared the proposal of Medical Education & Research Department to fill 129 posts of super specialists and medical teaching faculty in Medical Colleges of Amritsar and Patiala. Of these 80 super specialists would be recruited in the departments of Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Nuclear Medicine, Radio Therapy, Radiology and Immuno-Haematology & Blood Transfusion of Govt. Medical College Amritsar and Patiala to effectively combat the deadly menace of Cancer so that these posts were filled up quickly. These recruitments would be made by the Departmental Selection Committee on merit after taking out these posts from the preview of Punjab Public Service Commission. Apart from this the Cabinet gave green signal to recruit 49 medical teaching faculty including 12 professors, 19 assistant professors, 13 senior lecturers and 5 lecturers in these medical colleges through direct recruitment on merit through the same committee after taking them out of the purview of the PPSC.
To perpetuate our rich legacy and glorious cultural heritage amongst the future generations, the Cabinet also approved to transfer the land and building of Wood Seasoning Plant Kartarpur in Jalandhar district to the Cultural Affairs Department for setting up of the memorial of Swami Virjanand. The Cabinet also okayed amendment in the Punjab Privately Managed Recognized School Employees (Security of Service) Act, 1979 so as to include Non-aided posts of Employees under its ambit. This would on one hand empower the Educational Tribunal to settle the disputes between the management and employees of these institutions and facilitate the government by mitigating the mounting litigation by such teachers against their management, on the other. In order to generate funds for the state government, the Cabinet also gave green signal to bring an ordinance to impose 2% stamp duty on Power of Attorney by amending Schedule 1A of the Indian Stamp Act.
The Cabinet also gave nod to return the land of freedom fighters, confiscated by the British Authorities during the freedom struggle, to their kin. The Cabinet also approved to appoint 512 Hindi teachers on contract at a consolidated pay of Rs 10,300 from April 2012 in the larger public interest. These teachers were recruited under Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Financial Assistance for appointment of Teachers in Non Hindi states’, which was discontinued by the GoI at the end of 9th Five Year Plan.