VIJAYAWADA: The State Cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Secretariat on Wednesday, decided to roll out the new excise policy from October 1.
However, it was decided to constitute a Cabinet Sub-Committee to study the proposals the excise department put forward for approval. The Cabinet felt that the monopoly during the previous regime from production to sale of liquor had resulted in non-availability of popular brands, and the substandard ones ruined the health of lakhs of people.
Disclosing the decisions of the Cabinet meeting to mediapersons, Minister for Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathy said a proposal was made to totally revamp the Excise Department in the coming one-and-a-half months for better monitoring. “An official team will soon visit Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka to study the excise policies being implemented in those States. The exercise to approve the new excise policy will be completed by September 5, 2024, and it will be implemented from October 1, 2024,” he said.
Stern measures will be taken to curb smuggling of illegal liquor and ganja.
2 children norm to contest local body polls to go
Quality liquor will be made available at affordable prices to low income groups. Steps will also be taken to implement de-addiction and rehabilitation systems after conducting a detailed study of these systems in the States which are implementing them. Official teams will also visit all parts of the country to study the effective implementation of these systems, he explained.
The Cabinet also discussed the spurt in complaints related to the 22A prohibited list and other land disputes, and decided to stall registrations across the State for three months to rectify the anomalies that took place in the previous YSRC regime.
In the wake of reports about tampering with land records and land grabbing, the Council of Ministers directed the higher officials of the Revenue Department to visit districts, identify the land encroachments and other irregularities in land transfer, and take stern action against those responsible for them. The Chief Minister suggested the conduct of Revenue Grama Sabhas to resolve the land disputes.
“The Cabinet also resolved to issue new passbooks to land owners with the official seal and a QR code. Grama Sabhas will soon be conducted in view of the growing number of complaints,” the I&PR Minister elaborated.
It was also decided to erase the photos former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on survey stones and to use them for other purpose of the government.
The Cabinet unanimously resolved to continue the ban on CPI (Maoist) for one more year. It approved the proposal to continue the ban currently in force on the CPI (Maoist) and the Revolutionary Democratic Front under Section 3(A) of the Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act. The proposals to revoke GO No. 217 of the Animal Husbandry Department issued on August 18, 2021 and GO No. 144 of the Fisheries Department released on September 8, 2020 were approved.
Observing that these GOs were issued only to violate the fundamental rights of the fishermen community as the ponds were earlier leased out on a nominal charge, he said the Cabinet thus decided to revoke these GOs which would be of great help to lakhs of fishermen in the State.
The Cabinet also unanimously approved the proposal to repeal the amendments made to the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965 and the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1955 imposing a ban on persons having three or more children to contest the local bodies elections, and to continue as members of the local bodies, the I&PR Minister said.
The Cabinet also approved unanimously to sanction an additional 380 teaching and non-teaching posts for the five new medical colleges in Vizianagaram, Rajamahendravaram, Eluru, Machilipatnam and Nandyal, which were established under the provisions of Phase One of the National Medical Commission. Already 150 posts were sanctioned for these colleges. The meeting approved the proposal to begin the 2024-25 academic year with 100 MBBS seats each in the medical colleges established at Markapur, Pulivendula, Adoni and Madanapalle. This decision was taken in accordance with the latest provisions of the National Medical Council, Kolusu said and added that in this connection the Chief Minister issued directions to study the PPP model currently existing in Gujarat.
Other Key decisions
In the wake of spurt in complaints related to the 22A prohibited list and other land disputes, the Cabinet decided to stall registrations across the State for three months to rectify the anomalies that took place during the previous YSRC regime
The proposals to revoke GO No 217 of the Animal Husbandry Department issued on August 18, 2021, and GO No 144 of the Fisheries Department released on September 8, 2020 were approved
It was resolved to continue the ban on the CPI (Maoist) for one more year