Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave nod to the New Punjab Food grains Labour Policy 2022 and the revised Punjab Food grains Transportation Policy 2022 to ensure wider competitive participation with increased transparency and at the same time reducing frivolous litigation.

A decision to this effect was taken by Council of Ministers chaired by the Chief Minister in its meeting held here at the Punjab Civil Secretariat- I.

Divulging the details a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the revised transportation policy is now in sync with the Custom Milling Policy for procurement and milling of paddy, approved by the Cabinet a few days back. The revised transportation policy mandates, for the first time ever, the installation of vehicle tracking systems in every vehicle used for transportation of food grains procured by the government. The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs has already initiated the process of empanelling companies, which provide vehicle tracking systems, and making the existing Anaaj Khareed Portal compatible with these systems.

Likewise, new Labour Policy aims at ensuring wider participation of Labour Associations by abolishing the prevailing Labour and Cartage Policy. The existing Labour and Cartage Policy, prevailing for past many decades, was perceived by many to favour participation of contractors, since it involved providing labour and transportation services by the same person. But the new Policy has completely delinked labor and transportation services thereby providing increased opportunities to Labour Associations to directly participate in the tender process, which will directly increase their incomes by removing the contractor margin, he explained.

Highlighting the aspects of the Labour and Transportation Policies, the spokesperson said that every effort has been made to make the system completely transparent by removing certain existing provisions, which were sometimes open to abuse and often caused frivolous litigations. An important step in this regard was taken by completely eliminating the submission of manual documents during the tender process, as many tenders were often rejected on account of minor discrepancies in their submission, he said.

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Chandigarh: In a first of its kind initiative to give a major push to fields of Education and Health, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today gave approval to trust deed for constituting Sikhya-te-Sehat fund in the state.

A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by the Chief Minister here at Punjab Civil Secretariat I.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the fund is primarily aimed at creation and sprucing up of the capital assets in the fields of Health and Education within the geographical limits of the state for the benefit of public through mobilising voluntary donations. The Chief Minister 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.

GIVES NOD TO AMENDMENT IN POLICY TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO COTTON PICKING LABOUR

In another significant decision aimed at providing relief to the cotton picking labourers in event of Cotton Crop loss due to pest attack, the Punjab 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 farmers on account of crop damage. However, as identification of farm labourers was difficult with the provisions of existing policy, so it has been amended to overcome these difficulties.

As per the revised policy, the Revenue Patwaris and Agriculture extension officers will identify the labourers through a comprehensive survey of the villages and the Patwaris will certify that the family doesn’t have any cultivable land or owns land less than one acre. The list prepared by Patwaris and Agriculture Extension Officers will be finalized after getting public objections and certification in the general hearing at villages on a stipulated time. The policy will be applicable from Kharif Season 2021 onwards.

APPROVES SPECIAL REMISSION CASE OF 23 CONVICTS/LIFE CONVICTS

The Cabinet also gave approval, under Article 163 of the Constitution of India, for sending the case of special remission to 23 convicts/ life convicts confined in Jails of Punjab to Punjab Governor for consideration under Article 161 of the Indian constitution.

GREEN SIGNAL TO LEAVES FOR GUEST FACULTY AND PART TIME LECTURERS

In another major decision, the Cabinet also gave 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. This benevolent gesture of the state government will help in easing out the hardships being faced by these lecturers.

APPROVES PROPOSAL FOR SIGNING OF AGREEMENTS FOR INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING CLUSTER (MIC) UNDER AMRITSAR-KOLKATA INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR

To create conducive environment for industrial sector thereby creating jobs for youth, the Council of Ministers also approved the proposal for signing of Shareholders Agreement (SHA) and State Support Agreement (SSA) for Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (MIC) under Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) Project near Rajpura, which 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 investment. It will also generate employment of about 32724 from Industrial and 14880 from non-industrial support amenities.

ANNUAL ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS OF COOPERATIVE DEPARTMENT APPROVED

Meanwhile, the Punjab Cabinet also approved Annual Administrative Report of year 2017-18 and 2018-19 of Punjab Cooperative Department.

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