DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

The Punjab Cabinet on Thursday accorded consent to disburse pending arrears of government employees and pensioners worth Rs 14,000 crore.

A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the Council of Ministers held here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, said an official release.

A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said the Cabinet gave the approval to release arrears of revised pay and pensions and leave encashment from the period of January 1, 2016, to June 30, 202,2 and that dearness allowance from July 1, 2021, to March 31, 2024, for pensioners and employees. This sum worth Rs 14,000 crore will be released in stages and will give much-needed relief to the employees and pensioners.

There are three lakh government employees and three lakh pensioners who will directly benefit from this move, said the release. To provide houses to the economically weaker section, the Cabinet gave a nod to a policy for 'Optimum utilisation of land reserved for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)'.

As per this, scattered land pockets falling in various colonies will be monetised and the funds received from such sale will be utilised for the benefit of EWS, said the release.

For this, 1,500 acres of land will be acquired across the state, it said.

The state development authorities will be authorised to plan these scattered land pockets at their level to cater to the needs of the end user in such a way that would generate reasonable revenue for the department by way of auctioning of these sites, it said.

The authorities will also be authorised to identify and acquire separate chunks of land for either plots or houses for the EWS so that the interest of the EWS is taken care of by the government.

The Cabinet also gave the nod to create new posts in the Punjab State Legal Services Authority for setting up 22 new Lok Adalats in the state.

To check the pilferage of taxes in the state by proper utilisation of the human resources in the taxation department, the Cabinet also gave approval for the creation of 476 new posts in the department.

Along with it, the green signal was given for changing the nomenclature of the posts of the inspectors in the department as they will be now known as state taxation officers.

The Cabinet also gave the green signal for amending the rules and qualifications for the direct recruitment of Physical Training Instructors (PTI teachers) in the elementary education department. This will facilitate the recruitment of 2,000 such teachers across the state in the coming days.

In a move aimed at generating more than 50,000 jobs for youth, the Cabinet also gave the nod for waiver of stamp duty, registration fee and other additional charges for transfer of land to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) --"NICDC Punjab Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited" for Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) being developed as a part of Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) Project.

The project aims to serve as a catalyst for local commerce, business with global competitiveness and creating an environment conducive to investment. The project will generate employment of about 32,724 from industrial and 14,880 from non-industrial support amenities.

The Cabinet also gave nod to a policy to optimally utilise the external development charges collected by various development authorities from promoters who develop their projects.

To facilitate non-resident Indians (NRIs), the Cabinet approved setting up special fast-track NRI courts in six districts of the state.

These courts will be set up at Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Moga and Ludhiana.

The Cabinet also decided to optimally utilize 253 acres of land of the thermal power plant in Bathinda, for residential and commercial sites, a water treatment plant, a bus stand, and an ESI hospital while returning 1,235 acres of land to the power utility.

The administrative control of three lakes falling in approximately 173 acres of land of thermal plant will remain with the Bathinda Development Authority and the ownership rights will remain with the power utility.

To promote renewable sources of energy for agricultural purposes, the Cabinet gave the go-ahead for launching a pilot project to install 200 solar pumps for agriculture purposes.

The Cabinet said 90 per cent of funding for this project will be done by the Punjab government. This pilot project is aimed at transforming the destiny of farmers by supplementing their income in a big way. To check the pollution caused due to cow dung in the 'Buddha Nullah' of Ludhiana, the Cabinet gave its nod for setting up an ultra-modern bio methanation plant in the industrial city.

(editor@dailyworld.in)