Cabinet hikes bonus for rail staff

The Cabinet today approved for 2005-06 a productivity-linked bonus equivalent to 65 days' wages to eligible railway employees.

The Railways had paid 62 days' wages as bonus for 2004-05, which cost it Rs 700 crore. This year's bonus is expected to cost it around Rs 800 crore.

The Cabinet also approved the setting up of one lakh rural common service centres (CSCs) through public-private partnerships (PPPs) at a total investment of Rs 5,742 crore. While the Centre will contribute Rs 856 crore, Rs 793 crore will come from the state governments, and the balance Rs 4,093 crore from the private sector.

The Cabinet also approved the reconstitution of the Law Commission for three years, starting September 1, 2006.

It also approved the borrowing plan of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for achieving the rural road targets under the Bharat Nirman programme and allowed the National Rural Roads Development Agency to borrow from NABARD.

The Cabinet further approved changes in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) and Financial Institutions Laws (Amendment) Bill.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved Rs 975.96 crore for the Eastern Region Strengthening Scheme-I and the construction of a new international terminal at Thiruvananthapuram airport at a cost of Rs 245.58 crore.

Other approvals included a financial assistance of Rs 314.10 crore to ITI Ltd and a budgetary support of Rs 80.84 crore to Hindustan Steelworks Construction Ltd (HSCL) and Bharat Refractories Ltd (BRL).

The committee also entrusted the Dredging Corporation of India with dredging work in the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) at an expenditure of Rs 2,077.25 crore.

It also approved the paddy under MSP operations along with an incentive bonus of Rs 40 per quintal in Punjab, Haryana and Kerala from September 25, 2006, till March 31, 2007.