CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has decided to set up four new testing laboratories for COVID-19, with priority appointment of the 131 essential staff needed for these labs.
It also sanctioned 300 ad-hoc posts in the Medical Education Department, 100 in each in the three government run Medial Colleges, to handle the critical patients.
The state cabinet gave the go-ahead to set up the new labs in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Mohali and help scale up testing capacity from the current 9,000 a day, in the three Government Medical Colleges at Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot, to 13,000 daily.
The new laboratories will be established in Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana; Punjab State Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Mohali; Northern Regional Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar; and Punjab Biotechnology Incubator, Mohali.
All the appointments will be made through outsourcing from Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkod.
These appointments could be subject to their clearance of exams later.
Meanwhile, the cabinet has also given the nod to re-employment of the medical, ayurvedic and dental faculty at the Government Medical Colleges and the Government Dental Colleges in Patiala and Amritsar, as well as the Government Ayurvedic College, Patiala, after their retirement at 62 years.
While re-employment will be up to the age of 70, for Medical and Ayurvedic teachers, for Dental faculty, it will be till the age of 65.
In order to ease the process of approval and clearances for setting-up of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) the state cabinet today also approved the Punjab Right to Business Rules, 2020 thus paving a way for setting up of these units on fast track basis.
Under the new rules, a District Level Nodal Agency headed by Deputy Commissioner will give sanctions and approvals pertaining to building plan, completion certificate, trade license registration, land use change, Fire Department NOC, factory building plan approval (except for industries involving hazardous
process), as well as registration of shops or establishments.
For units being set up in approved Industrial Park, the certificate of in-principle approval would be issued within three working days after the submission of declaration of intent by the applicant.
For areas outside the Industrial Park, such certificate would be issued within 15working days.
The said certificate would be valid for a period of three and half years, and the concerned unit shall apply for regular approvals not later than three years on the Invest Punjab Business First portal from the date of issuance of certificate of in-principle approval.