The Cabinet has approved a proposal to open 60 exclusive hostels for poor engineering and medical students.
This brings relief to engineering students who at present are accommodated in the Social Welfare Department hostels for post-matric students.
After the Cabinet meeting here on Thursday, Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya said medical and engineering students were facing inconvenience in the post-matric hostels for students of arts, commerce and science streams, as they needed more facilities like computers, well-equipped library, study tables and so on.
“We have decided to open 60 exclusive hostels for engineering and medical students, 30 each for girls and boys, in all districts,” he said.
The minister made it clear that these hostels would not only admit SC/ST, OBC students but also poor students from the general category. “Each hostel would accommodate 100 students. The state government has decided to release Rs. 13.57 crore for the purpose,” he said.
Salary Arrears
The Cabinet has also sanctioned Rs. 61 crore to settle the salary arrears of guest lecturers in government first grade colleges. The salary of these lecturers has been pending since April. There are 5,795 guest lecturers who are awaiting for their salary arrears.
It was also decided to form a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra to implement the High Court order on extending pension benefit for the staff of unaided educational institutions.
The state Cabinet has decided to continue its grant for Bangalore Traffic Improvement Project (B-TRAC) this year. It has granted Rs. 11 crore for the purpose this year.
Law Degree Must
Those aspiring to be sub-inspectors (SIs) in the Criminal Investigation Department(CID) would have to be a law graduate as the Cabinet has decided to amend rules for recruitment of SIs in CID. It would amend the Cadre and Service Rules if necessary. The decision has been necessitated considering the fact that legal knowledge would be of great help in improving the efficiency of the SIs in the CID. “The state government would apply the new rules for filling 34 vacant posts of SIs in the CID soon,” Jayachandra said. It is also decided to give preference to graduates and post-graduates in IT related subjects for the posts of SIs.