Himachal Cabinet approves Rs 1,500 per month to women aged 18 to 60 years in Spiti valley

The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Wednesday decided to provide Rs 1,500 per month as Indira Gandhi Mahila Samman Nidhi to all the women aged 18-60 years in Spiti valley.

The announcement in this regard was made by chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in Spiti during the Himachal Day function on April 15.

Earlier in the state budget, the CM had announced an increased pension of Rs 1,500 per month to 2.31 lakh women who have at present getting a pension of Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,150. This was one of the ten guarantees promised by the Congress in its election manifesto during the assembly polls.

The state Cabinet in its meeting held here on Wednesday, under the chairmanship of chief minister, also decided to constitute a Cabinet sub-committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri to prepare a white paper on the financial position of the state.

The chief minister has been blaming the previous BJP government for putting the state under mounting debt liability of Rs 75,000 crore and committed liabilities of over Rs 11,000 crore, pertaining to arrears and DA of employees and pensioners.

The cabinet also decided to increase Certain Goods Carried by Roads (CGCR) tax on tobacco in all forms, including Pan Masala, Pan Chatney and tobacco or tobacco substitutes from Rs 3 per quintal to Rs 4.50 per quintal.

The cabinet gave its nod to introduce e-stamping in the state for the collection of stamp duty to promote ease of doing business. It decided to stop printing physical stamp papers with immediate effect and will authorise stamp paper vendors as authorized collection centres.

However, the dual system of stamps (physical stamp paper and e-stamp paper would continue till March 31, 2023, after which physical stamp paper will be discontinued completely, a statement issued here said.

The Cabinet decided to give Rs 600 in lieu of school uniforms through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to about 5.25 lakh students (girls and boys) of class I to VIII, studying in government schools.

It also decided to increase the honorarium of nambardars and chowkidars/part time workers in the revenue department from Rs 3,200 to Rs 3,700 per month and Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,500, respectively. The decision would benefit about 3,177 Nambardars and 1,950 chowkidars.

It decided to amend Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy, 2021 to make transfer of land for setting up solar power and new and renewable energy projects on lease/ purchase/ acquisition basis, subject to the applicable provisions of the various Acts pertaining to the matter.

It also decided to increase the court fee from Rs 6 to Rs 20 for filing any application/petition in the revenue courts or applying attestation of affidavit or any other documents in civil courts other than the High Court.

The Cabinet decided to constitute Atal Tunnel Planning Area and freeze the existing land use of Atal Tunnel Planning Area, which includes revenue villages of district Lahaul-Spiti.

It gave its approval to fill up 50 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) and 30 posts of Junior Draughtsman in the Public Works Department, 15 posts of Assistant Engineers (Civil) and 50 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) in Jal Shakti Vibhag through direct recruitment.