Punjab Cabinet approves fund to create health, education infrastructure

The CM will be chairperson of the trust with finance minister as its vice-chairperson, chief secretary as member secretary and ministers of health, school education, medical education, higher education and technical education departments as its trustees. The trust will also have an advisory committee headed by the Chief Secretary.

Relief to cotton labourers

In a move aimed at providing relief to the cotton picking labourers in event of crop loss due to a pest attack, the Cabinet accorded its consent to amend the existing policy of revenue department for identification of farm labourers in this regard. The primary objective of this policy is to also provide relief to cotton picking labourers when relief is given to farmers on account of crop damage.

However, as identification of farm labourers was difficult with the provisions of existing policy, it has been amended to overcome these difficulties.

According to the revised policy, the revenue ‘patwaris’ and agriculture extension officers will identify the labourers through a comprehensive survey of the villages and ‘patwaris’ will certify that the family does not have any cultivable land or owns land less than one acre. The list will be finalised after getting public objections and certification in the general hearing at villages on a stipulated time. The policy will be applicable from the Kharif season 2021 onwards.

Remission list

The Cabinet also gave its approval for sending the case of special remission to 23 convicts confined in jails to the Governor for consideration under Article 161 of the Indian constitution.

Leaves for guest faculty

The Cabinet also gave its nod for granting earned leave, half pay leave and extraordinary leave to guest faculty and part time lecturers of the government colleges in addition to the existing casual and maternity leaves. This was a long standing demand of the guest faculty and part time lecturers.

IMC

To create conducive environment for industrial sector thereby creating jobs for youth, the Cabinet also approved a proposal for signing of shareholders agreement (SHA) and state support agreement (SSA) for Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) under Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) project near Rajpura. It is coming up with the support of National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC). The project will act as a catalyst for local commerce, business with global-competitiveness and creating an environment conducive to investments.