NEW DELHI: Heeding the result of the Delhi assembly election, which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost, its government in Punjab went on a bonanza spree on Thursday, much before the 2027 assembly polls in the state.
The Punjab cabinet, meeting after four months, decided to disburse pending arrears worth Rs 14,000 crore among state government employees and pensioners.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said arrears of revised pay or pensions and leave encashment will be released from January 1, 2016, to June 30, 2022, and dearness allowance (DA) from July 1, 2021, to March 31, 2024.
Three lakh employees and an equal number of pensioners will benefit from this move.
The cabinet also nodded to create new posts in the Punjab State Legal Services Authority for setting up 22 new Lok Adalats. The cabinet sanctioned 476 new posts in the department.
The government decided to recruit 53 regular drivers in the excise department and amended rules and qualifications for direct recruitment of Physical Training Instructors (PTI teachers) in the elementary education department.
In another measure, the cabinet is reviving 822 posts of the Group C cadre in the health and family welfare department to enhance efficiency. It also gave approval for creating 97 posts of various cadres in the Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, SAS Nagar. The teaching faculty at the Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, Patiala are to get UGC scales.
In a move aimed at generating more than 50,000 jobs for youth, the cabinet gave the nod for waiver of stamp duty, registration fee and other additional charges for transfer of land to the Special Purpose Vehicle “NICDC Punjab Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited” for the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster being developed as a part of the Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor Project.
Allottees who defaulted by failing to deposit the money against the plot/ land allotted to them by PUDA and other Special Development Authorities are to get an amnesty policy.