Rs 3250 crore approved for upgradation of main district roads of state

Bhopal: In a meeting of the Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today, Rs. 3250 crores (US $ 500 million) was approved for the construction / upgradation of the main district roads in the state. With this, 87 roads of 2,143 km long roads will be constructed/upgraded. This includes 70 percent new development bank loan of Rs 2,275 crore (US $ 350 million) and 975 crore (US $ 150 million) that is 30 percent share of state government.

With this, the Cabinet granted approval to widen and upgrade 27.99 kms. two-way-Ahmedpur-Bhojpur instead of the 11.41 km Ahmednagar-Bhojpur road approved by the Public Works Department in the project 'M.P. Major District Road Upgradation Project', with the funding of New Development Bank.

Panchayat and Rural Development: The Council of Ministers also approved the proposal to bear 3% additional interest subsidy on the bank loan upto Rs. 3 lakhs by the State Government. In the financial year 2018-19 and 2019-20, the estimated bank will be Rs. 1600 crores, on which the estimated interest subsidy will be Rs. 48 crores. In this order, the Council of Ministers has also approved the amendment in Self-Help Group Promotion Policy 2007. It may be noted that maximum Rs 25 lakh assistance was made available for expansion of business to self-help groups or federations. The Cabinet took the decision to raise this amount to Rs 50 lakhs.

The Cabinet has taken important decisions related to payscale of gram panchayat secretaries. Now fixed honorarium of Rs 10 thousand per month will be given to panchayat secretaries for 2 years after January 2018. Regular pay scale of 5,200-20,200 + grade pay 1900 will be given for on completion of two years of satisfactory service. Similarly, the pay scales of 5,200-20,200 + Grade Pay 2400 will be approved for the Gram Panchayat Secretaries who have completed 10 years of regular service on April 1, 2018. This decision will benefit 21 thousand 151 Panchayat Secretaries.

The Cabinet has sanctioned the benefit of the fifth and sixth pay scale to 97 service officers of the State Co-operative Federation working on deputation in the Panchayat and Rural Development Department till the deputation period.
Higher Education: The Cabinet has approved recruitment by the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission in year 2018 for the posts of assistant professor, librarian and sports officer under the Madhya Pradesh Educational Services (Collegial Branch) Recruitment Rules-1990, and for post of assistant professors in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Social Science University, Mhow, only through written competitive examination. Besides, the concession has been given only once in the provision of taking interview in the Recruitment Rules. All other Rules and provision of additional marks, reservation, age limit etc. will be the same.

Technical Education: The Cabinet has also approved the proposal of the state government bearing the fees of students taking admission after 12th standard in various courses in National Law Universities (NLU) and University of Delhi, through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) or conducted by self-examination, giving 1.5 lakh in place of common rank of 50,000 in (JEE) Mains Examination, giving benefit of scheme to students acquiring 70 percent marks in 12th Board of Board of Secondary Education from academic session 2018-19.

The Cabinet granted approval of including all courses run in all state government colleges/universities availing grants and non-government recognized colleges/universities and the state government paying the fees of students of Graduation Programme, Integrated Post Graduation Programme and Dual Degree Course run in all Universities / Institutions, to be borne by the State Government in the scheme.

Tribal Affairs: The Cabinet approved the provision of Rs 35 crore 20 lakhs for continuous operation of the Akansha Yojana of the Department of Tribal Affairs for the year 2018-19 to 2019-20. In the scheme, free coaching is provided through excellent coaching institutions to promote admission to 1600 tribal students in national level engineering, medical and law colleges in 4 divisional headquarters of Indore, Jabalpur, Bhopal and Gwalior.

Industry Policy and Investment Promotion: The Cabinet sanctioned Rs. 530 crore 59 lakh for 14 Industrial Infrastructure Development Projects on selected sites in the state. In these projects, proposal of government grant of 40 percent of project cost for the establishment of 8 new industrial areas, loan under 50 percent government guarantee and 10 percent part of implementation agency have been approved.

These eight new industrial areas include New Integrated Industrial Area Pithampur, Dhar district, New Industrial Area Rehta-Khadkod Burhanpur district, New Multi-Product Industrial co Gems and Jewellery and IT Park Indore district, New Integrated Textile Park Acharpura Bhopal district, New Industrial Area Lahgadua Chhindwada district, New Industrial Area Khairiyatagaon (Borgaon) Chhindwada district, New Industrial Area Gudh Rewa district and New Industrial Area Udyogdweep Baidhan Singrauli district.

Similarly, proposal of 75 percent government grant and 25 percent share of implementation agency has been approved for the upgradation work of six existing industrial areas. These existing industrial areas include Meghnagar industrial area of Jhabua district, Malanpur-Giroungi Bhind district, IID Pratappura of Tikamgarh district, Udyogdweep Baidhan Singrauli district, Udyogvihar Churhata Rewa district and IIDC Nadantola Satna district.

Reserving 72.77 hectare land out of total 469.97 hectare land of Smart Industrial Park, Pithampur for the investors of Japan, South-east and Fareast countries (South Korea, China, Taiwan etc.) the Cabinet decided to allot the remaining 397.20 hectare industrial land to the investors of the state/country after unreserving it in the form of multi-product industrial zone as per prevalent rules.

Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development: The Cabinet approved the proposal to provide Rs 22 crore in the form of state’s share to continue the workplan of implementation of Krishi Utsav in the state from 2017-18 to 2019-20. In order to establish a direct business relationship between farmers and agricultural scientists on agricultural and agricultural related issues such as animal husbandry, horticulture, silk-farming, fish farming, etc., under the Krishi Mahotsav organized to make farming a beneficial profession, krishi vigyan mela, kisan sammelan, farming seminars and display of latest agricultural techniques and widespread publicity will be undertaken from state to village level.

Public Health and Family Welfare: The Cabinet also approved the Patient Welfare Committee guidelines 2018. Under this, free medical check-up, treatment and availability of essential medicines for all categories of patients in state medical colleges will be ensured. Simultaneously, sanction of Rs.15.99 crore has been approved for the construction of school buildings in 101 schools of the state.-Window To News