OTHER DECISIONS AT THE STATE CABINET MEETING

Panel on mining

The cabinet decided that a sub-committee will review the mining policy and suggest ways of making it more effective and stringent. It consists of local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, finance minister Manpreet Badal and rural development minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa.

Job to wrestler

Navjot Kaur, who won gold in Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, will be given a job and cash reward of Rs 5 lakh. FM Manpreet said the cabinet also agreed, in principle, to give her a job of deputy superintendent of police (DSP), but as her educational qualification was not confirmed the decision will be implemented accordingly. Recently, cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur too got the post as reward.

Special case for Everest

Everest summiteer Prithvi Singh Chahal wil be appointed DSP as a special case. As the youngest to achieve the fate at 17 years, one month and 23 days of age, his case was deemed special as the cabinet felt it would encourage adventure sports in the state.

Affordable housing

A new scheme for affordable homes says that a maximum of five acres of land will be required to carve out an affordable colony in all master plans, except Mohali and New Chandigarh.

Jail strength

Cabinet gave approval for revival of 305 posts of warders and 20 posts of assistant superintendents in the jail department. The cabinet considered it necessary to revive them in order to prevent recurrence of Nabha jailbreak kind of incidents and Gurdaspur Central Jail type of riots, a spokesman said.

Name change

Department of SC/BC Welfare will be renamed as department of social justice and empowerment.

Excise policy next time

The much-speculated-about excise policy was not tabled, though. As per the finance minister, that will be done in the next meeting.