The government on Monday approved a series of measures that would make armed forces personnel, government staff and port sector companies happy.
Port projects of less than Rs 500 crore being built under public-private partnership (PPP) would not require Cabinet approval, decided the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure.
The earlier such limit was Rs 300 crore, the authorising power being with the ministry of shipping.
Separately, the Cabinet decided to increase dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners by seven per cent and cleared a pension bonanza for armed forces personnel. Service personnel who’d retired before January 2006 would now be entitled to a pension almost equal to their counterparts who superannuated after this date.
This was a long-pending demand of ex-soldiers.
The slew of measures included enhancement of family pension, granting of dual family pension and family pension to mentally and physically challenged wards of defence personnel even after their marriage, officials said. The extra cost would be Rs 2,300 crore yearly.
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Military pensioners have been demanding implementation of a scheme under which personnel retiring at the same rank and putting in the same length of service should get the same pension, irrespective of their time of retirement.
About eight million employees and pensioners were also given a reason to smile today, with a decision to raise DA by seven per cent, effective July 1. There will be an entitlement for arrears.
The dearness allowance rise from 65 per cent to 72 per cent will cost the exchequer Rs 4,939 crore for the remaining part of this financial year, and an additional Rs 7,408 crore annually, said an official statement.
The government also approved the continuation of e-governance initiative MCA21, related to compliance of companies with various laws, till July 2021.
An initiative of the corporate affairs ministry, MCA21 is designed to automate processes related to enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act.
It envisages electronic filing of documents, registration of companies and public access to corporate information online through a secure interactive portal.
The ministry would extend e-governance to related agencies such as the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and Company Law Board in the second cycle.
It would be implemented as a non-plan scheme, with an outlay of Rs 357.8 crore, according to the statement.