JAMMU, Jan 20: The Cabinet today understood to have cleared most of 10 agenda items which are being sent to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for approval.
Other than 10 agenda items, the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reportedly took up timing and duration for budget session of the Legislature and mysterious deaths of 17 persons at village Badhaal in Rajouri district.
While the Government didn’t issue any official statement after the Cabinet meeting as all agenda items cleared by it are subject to the LG’s approval, sources said the Cabinet has proposed three weeks budget session of the Legislature beginning first week of March. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who holds charge of the Finance Department, will present maiden budget of Jammu and Kashmir as the UT during the session.Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present budget including grants for the UTs in the Parliament on February 1.As per the sources, 17 mysterious deaths at village Badhaal in Rajouri district, were also discussed in the Cabinet and it was decided to fully keep the Health Department and other concerned officials activated to go into reasons behind the deaths and ensure every help the victim families need.
The Cabinet is understood to have taken up all 10 agenda items and cleared the proposals for payment of pending Dearness Allowance (DA) installment to the Government employees and pensioners, three-tier faculty structure for Dental Colleges of Jammu and Srinagar and draft Excise Policy-2025.
Other items which were discussed include doing away with oral test/interviews/viva voce for posts falling in Pay Level-6 which has been recommended by the Services Selection Board, amendments to Jammu and Kashmir Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 and administrative approval pertaining to dumping sites, river bodies etc.
The Cabinet is also reported to have cleared the proposals relating to grant of administrative approval for key proposals mooted by the Housing & Urban Development Department. The proposals included dumpsite remediation through bio-mining/bio-remediation of 11.00 Lakh MTs of legacy waste at Achan dumping site, Srinagar, at an estimated cost of Rs. 60.50 crore (Rs. 33.00 crore from 14th FC and Rs. 27.50 crore from SBM 2.0), pollution abatement and conservation of River Jhelum at Chuntkul and Gawkadal areas in Srinagar, at an estimated cost of Rs. 6445.68 lakh (Rs. 6380.68 lakh under the National River Conservation Plan) and pollution abatement and conservation of River Banganga at Katra Town, at an estimated cost of Rs. 92.10 crore under the National River Conservation Plan.It also cleared the proposal of construction of a new hospital block for the emergency operation theatre at SMHS Hospital, Srinagar.
Sources said the proposals cleared by the Cabinet will be sent to the Lieutenant Governor for approval.
“The proposals approved by the Lieutenant Governor will be announced shortly,” they added.
The LG will address budget session of the Legislature followed by discussion on Motion of Thanks to the address and presentation of budget by Omar Abdullah. This will be Omar’s first budget as he has been holding charge of the Finance Department for the first time.
