Punjab to relax area condition for private varsities
CHANDIGARH: To promote higher education, the Punjab cabinet has decided to reduce requirement of constructed area from 50,000 to 30,000 square metres for multi-domain varsity and from 20,000 to 15,000 sq mtr for singledomain varsity.
CHANDIGARH: To promote higher education in the state, the Punjab cabinet on Thursday decided to reduce the requirement of constructed area from 50,000 to 30,000 square metres for multi-domain university and from 20,000 to 15,000 square metres for the one with singledomain.
It has been decided to accordingly amend the Punjab Private University Policy, 2010, an official spokesperson said after the cabinet meeting held via video conferencing. The move will encourage the establishment of more private universities in the state. This decision was taken at the meeting, chaired by chief minister Amarinder Singh.
The cabinet also gave the nod to amend provision 4.3(g) of the policy, making the sponsoring body eligible for setting up a private university on leased land, subject to the lease being a longterm one, for 33 years, from a government authority or gram panchayat. The Punjab Private University Policy-2010 had no provision for taking land on lease for setting up a university. Under the policy, the state government has so far approved 14 universities.
CLU waiver for Radha Soami Satsang bhawans
The cabinet also approved waiver of fee for Change of Land Use (CLU) and several other charges for Satsang Bhawans established, or to be established in future, by Radha Soami Satsang Beas across the state. Other charges to be waived include external development charges (EDC), permission fee (PF), social infrastructure fund (SIF) and building scrutiny fee. The government has already exempted these charges for educational, health, religious and social institutions set up by SGPC, Durgiana Mandir, Amritsar and Devi Talab Mandir, Jalandhar.
Sub-panel on PACL disinvestment
A proposal for formation of an
empowered cabinet sub-committee on disinvestment of 33.49% equity shareholding of Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals Limited (PACL) was given clearance. The sub-committee will comprise cabinet ministers Brahm Mahindra, Manpreet Singh Badal and Sunder Sham Arora. This decision was in response to the proposal mooted by directorate of disinvestment and public enterprises.
Priority will be given to providing functional house tap connections in the remaining 17.59 lakh households from the tied grants for water under the 15th Finance Commission to meet its 2022 target of 100% piped water connectivity. It was also decided to push Phase 2 of Swachh Bharat Mission (gramin), for making all villages in the state open defecation-free in next 5 years.