College, varsity teachers in HP to get UGC pay scales
Nod to proposal, fruit growers to get 6% subsidy on packaging bought from HPMC
The Himachal Pradesh cabinet on Thursday agreed to revise the pay of teaching personnel and academic staff in state-run universities and colleges as per University Grants Commission (UGC) scales.
The revised pay scales, from January 1, 2016 to March 31, 2022, will cost the state exchequer around ₹337 crore. The annual expenditure for 20212022 will be around ₹113 crore, while it will come to around ₹ 75 crore for the remaining financial year.In the cabinet meeting that was chaired by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur it was also decided that agitating fruit growers will be given a 6% subsidy on packaging material sold through the HP Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (HPMC).
The HPMC will be given a grant of ₹10 crore to provide the material at subsidised rates.
Minimum bus fare reduced
The Cabinet also reduced the bus fare for the first two kilometres for stage carriages (buses) in the state from ₹7 to ₹ 5. The health department, which had made wearing masks in public places mandatory, also apprised the Cabinet of the rate of virus transmission in the state.
As many as 452 posts of daily wagers in the Jal Shakti Vibhag were upgraded to those of pump operators and jal rakshks, who have completed 12 years or more in service as on December 31, 2020, but do not fulfil the required educational qualifications, will also be inducted into the department.
780 ASHA workers to be engaged
Nod was given to the engagement of 780 ASHA Workers under the National Health Mission, National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) and non-NUHM.
The Cabinet also decided to create and fill up 164 additional posts of different categories for the newly constructed 100-bedded MCH Wing at the Kamla Nehru State Hospital for Mother and Child Care in Shimla.
Around 54 posts of different categories will also be created and filled up in the local audit department.
The Aryabhatta Geo-Informatics and Space Application Centre (AGiSAC) was declared as the nodal agency to facilitate the use of spatial and geo-spatial technology in different departments for decision-making and planning developmental activities in the state. The centre will function as a nodal agency for the use of these technologies for sustainable development, besides serving as a repository of data relating to natural resources.