Himachal Cabinet approves township near Chandigarh, filling of 53 assistant professor posts in medical colleges

Shimla, Dec 30 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday took a slew of key decisions, including nod to build a world-class township at Shitalpur near Chandigarh and creation of 600 posts of assistant staff nurse in state-run medical facilities.

The state cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also decided to fill up 53 posts of assistant professor and 121 posts of different categories in all medical colleges of the state to strengthen the health sector, an official statement said.

For the proposed township at Shitalpur in Baddi area of Solan district, the cabinet approved the transfer of 3,400 bigha land to the housing department.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Industries Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan said more private or forest land would be acquired for the township project near Chandigarh which would have world-class amenities.

A cabinet sub-committee was set up for exploring the possibilities of developing a township and its report was accepted by the cabinet, he added.

The cabinet also decided to establish a University of Multidisciplinary Institute of Innovation, Skill, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Research at Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district on public-private partnership mode to promote digitally skilled workforce, the statement said.

The cabinet also gave approval to the Himachal Pradesh Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness Project with the French Development Agency for five years with an outlay of Rs 892 crore.

It decided to bring an amendment in the Rule-3 of the Himachal Pradesh Real Estate (Regulation and Development Rules), 2017 to bring transparency in the real estate business and speedy dispute redressal.

The Rule 3 is the gateway for project approval under Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in Himachal Pradesh. It mandates requirements of documents including project plan, land status (ownership/lease), layout, amenities, and other necessary disclosures.

The cabinet also gave its approval to create 600 posts of assistant staff nurse through HP Rajya Chayan Aayog Hamirpur under the assistant staff nursing policy, the statement said.

It gave the nod to pay 20 per cent incentive of basic pay for the faculty doctors who have acquired qualification of Doctorate of Medicine and Master of Chirurgiae (Mch).

The cabinet also approved the creation of a dedicated sub-cadre for CBSE schools with defined recruitment, training, tenure and performance evaluation norms in 100 identified schools of the state.

It decided to include children enrolled and studying in Tong-Len School, Dharamshala and children of disabled parents or single surviving parent with disability of 70 per cent or more under the ambit of Mukhya Mantri Sukh Aashray Yojna.

It also decided to include those children under Sukh Ashray Yojna whose one parent is dead and the other has left them, the statement said.

It approved a project proposal for resilient livelihoods, Sustainable Small Ruminant and Empowered Himalayan Shepherds under Pastoralists Employment in Himalayan Ecosystems for Livelihoods (PEHEL).

The goal of the project is to ensure livelihoods, strengthening of rural economy, preservation of ecological balance in high altitude areas, to modernize pastoral practices, conserve indigenous breeds besides strengthening market linkages and value addition, the statement said.

The cabinet decided to set up milk processing plants at Nahan, Nalagarh, Mohal and Rohru, a milk chilling centre at Jalari in Hamirpur district, a bulk milk cooler at Jhalera in Una and similar infrastructure at Karsog and Pangi by MILKFED and National Dairy Development Board.

It also approved cash credit limit of Rs 60 crore to the HP MILKFED Limited to meet the enhanced working capital requirements arising due to increased milk procurement cost during 2025-26 and 2026-27.

The cabinet gave its approval to adopt Functional Equivalence Model (FEM) treating posts of assistant and associate professors in applied sciences and humanities as functionally interchangeable across all five government engineering colleges under the Directorate of Technical Education.

The state government approved the proposal to amend the Himachal Pradesh Land Preservation Act, 1978, to regulate the felling of dried chir trees which have dried due to natural calamities, disease or insect attack, etc. with the approval of competent authority.

Approval was given to revise the Rajiv Gandhi Laghu Dukandar Sukh Kalyan Yojna-Shahri under which a business loan up to Rs 2 lakh availed by small shopkeepers declared as non-performing assets by banks. The beneficiary shall be entitled for one time settlement assistance of up to Rs 1 lakh to be borne by the state government.

The cabinet also approved shifting of headquarters of Himachal Pradesh State Commission for Backward Classes from Shimla to Dharamshala in Kangra district.

It also approved the establishment of a Drug De-addiction Centre at Malot, Indora in Kangra.

The government also gave its nod to grant relaxation for those under-construction Lok Bhawans in any assembly constituency under Mukhya Mantri Lok Bhawan Yojna.

The cabinet approved amendment in Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy-2021 according to which it is approved to extend the relaxation for levying free power royalty at reduced uniform rate of 12 per cent free power plus one percent Local Area Development Fund to projects with a capacity up to 25 MW where implementation agreements have already been signed.

The cabinet also approved re-allocation of equity share in SJVNL projects (Nathpa Jhakri and Rampur Hydro Power Station) to the state government for further sale through the Directorate of Energy, Himachal Pradesh. PTI BPL KVK KVK