The Punjab government has decided to set up the Dera Baba Nanak Development Authority for the development and beautification of the area in and around Dera Baba Nanak ahead of 550th celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev. A decision to this effect was taken at the Cabinet meeting on Monday, which was chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
The Cabinet also passed a resolution, welcoming the opening of Kartarpur corridor as a historic step to mark the auspicious occasion. "With the laying of the foundation stone for the corridor, a long-pending demand of the people in the state was fulfilled, thus paving the way for the opening of the way for devotees to visit the historic Kartarpur Gurdwara, close to the Line of Control," said an official statement issued after the Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet also approved the draft of Punjab Water Resources (Management and Regulation) Bill, 2018, aimed at ensuring judicious, equitable and sustainable utilisation and management of the state's critical water resources. The proposed Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority (PWRDA) would have a chairman, besides two members to be appointed by the state government.
The authority would be empowered to take all such measures as it deems necessary or expedient for the objective for which it is to be set up, and would have powers to issue directions and guidelines for the conservation and management of the water resources. It would also be empowered to issue tariff orders specifying the charges to be imposed by entities supplying water for drinking, domestic, commercial or industrial use, added the statement.
The Punjab Cabinet also approved the merger of 20 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) with the Punjab State Cooperative Bank (PSCB) to strengthen the state's rural credit system and facilitate farmers taking credit from cooperative banks. With the Cabinet giving the green signal to change the state's three-tier cooperative credit structure into two-tier, by amalgamating the DCCBs with the PSCB, the latter has now become a larger entity bank.
A government spokesperson said the decision had been taken in view of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) guidelines, which mandate that all DCCBs should have a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 9 per cent. Although at present the DCCBs are adhering to the required Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of 9 per cent, there is hardly any space for the majority of these DCCBs to enhance their business and to increase their profitability.
To meet the CRAR stipulation mandated by RBI for the cooperative banks, the state government had to infuse capital amounting to Rs 307 crore in the past. With this merger, the cooperative bank in the state will emerge as a financially and structurally stronger entity. After amalgamation, the single entity will have capital adequacy in the range of 13-14 per cent, allowing cooperative banks to increase their business while meeting RBI's stipulation of capital adequacy.
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