The State Cabinet which met here on Thursday has decided to regularise the services of more than 14,000 daily wage employees in various state government departments by introducing a legislation.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri told reporters that the Cabinet meet chaired by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar approved the recommendations made by a Cabinet Sub-committee.
About 23,000 daily wage employees are working in various state government departments and state-owned public enterprises.
“The services of those on the payroll till April 2006 will be considered for regularisation in the first phase,” he said.
The Cabinet also gave the nod to extend pension scheme to over 1,993 retired employees of the Zilla Panchayat and to develop about 1,100 km of state highways with private-public partnership (PPP) and collect user fee through toll.
The state highways considered for the collection of toll are Srirangapatna-Jewargi, Sankeshwar-Sangam, Aurad-Sadashivgad, Raichur-Bachi, Bagalkot-Biligirirangana Betta, Basavakalyan-Raichur, Sindhagi-Kondagal and Mysore Bantwal.
Kageri said: “The state government is spending over Rs 17,00 crore every year for the maintenance of these state highways and with the decision of PPP, it is expected to earn a revenue of Rs 200 crore annually.”
These roads would be developed based on a PPP model for a minimum of 10 years.
The state would streamline the process of the controversial denotification of lands as per the recommendations of the High Court.
A committee of high-level officials headed by the Chief Secretary would scrutinise the proposals for denotification of government lands and recommend it to the state government for final approval.
The Cabinet also approved amendment to the state’s 2009-2014 Industrial Policy and decided to streamline the value-added taxes in conformity with the neighbouring states.
It was also decided to extend the schedule of repayment of the interest-free loan availed by mega industrial units from the present third year to eighth year.
As much as 40.09 acres will be allotted to BBMP to construct a solid waste disposal unit at Kodiyalakarenahalli in Ramanagaram district.
The Rs 20 crore worth B-TRAC project seeking to improve traffic management in Bangalore city for 2013-14 has got the nod.
Kageri said that tender will be issued to set up solar units in the state and achieve the Centre’s target to generate about 130 MW of solar power.
A National Investment and Manufacturing Zone will be established in Tumkur which was sanctioned by the Centre recently.
“It would be the seventh such zone in the country,” said Kageri.