Himachal Cabinet expands BPL list, includes women-headed families

Families with no adult members between 18 and 59 years, or those headed by women or whose head has a disability of 50 per cent or more have been included under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list

The Himachal Pradesh cabinet on Thursday approved inclusion of families with no adult members between 18 and 59 years, headed by women or whose head has a disability of 50 per cent or more under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list.

Families that worked for at least 100 days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in the previous financial year and families whose earning members are suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, thalassemia or any other condition resulting in permanent disability are also included in the BPL list, a statement issued here said.

 

The state cabinet, in its meeting presided by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, approved the establishment of a special task force (STF) to combat drug abuse and dismantle drug trafficking and organised crime networks in the state through a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach.

Besides, the cabinet has decided to promulgate an ordinance amending Schedule 1A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. This amendment will enable the levy of a uniform stamp duty rate of 12 per cent on transfer and lease transactions secured under Section 118(2) (H) of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, with prior sanction from the state government.

The cabinet gave its nod to rename the Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) as Dr Manmohan Singh Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration. It also paid tributes to the former prime minister, observed two minutes of silence in his memory and acknowledged his significant contributions to the nation and state's development.

The cabinet noted that several key projects in the state like Atal Tunnel, three medical colleges, ESIC Hospital at Ner Chowk, IIT Mandi, IIIT Una, Central University and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Kangra were realised due to Singh's vision and support.

Some of the initiatives of Singh's tenure were the Right to Information Act, Right to Education Act, MNREGA, the Food Security Act, introduction of Aadhaar, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and loan waiver for 72 lakh farmers, and they were highlighted as milestones, the statement added.

The cabinet reiterated its request to the Centre to adopt the 90:10 funding formula for the power component of the Kishau Multipurpose Project at the border of Himachal and Uttrakhand, similar to the formula adopted for the water component.

Alternatively, it proposed providing a 50-year interest-free loan for the entire amount payable by the state government for the power component under the Inter-State Agreement.

In addition, the cabinet has decided to delegate the mandate for the allotment and monitoring of hydro and solar power projects above 5 MW as well as Green Hydrogen, Biomass and Pumped Storage Projects to the Department of Energy.

The cabinet approved the imposition of Green Energy Development Charges for Pumped Storage Projects. A charge of Rs 2.5 lakh per MW per year will be levied for the first 10 years after the project's commissioning, which will increase to Rs 5 lakh per MW per year thereafter.

The cabinet approved establishing the Himachal Pradesh State Water Informatics Centre to collect data from domain-specific bodies, developing new databases and disseminating comprehensive water-related information.

It gave its approval to the Baddi-Barotiwala Nalagarh Development Authority Land Pooling Policy-2025.

The cabinet gave its nod to introduce Himachal Pradesh Sadbhawana Legacy Cases Resolution Scheme 2025 to dispose of pending cases, litigations and arrears under the subsumed enactments such as VAT, CST and entry tax.

To protect the environment and minimise the footprints of human interventions in the green belts, the cabinet decided to bring the area surrounding Tara Devi Temple in Shimla district under the ambit of Green Area.

It decided to select the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to conduct computer-based tests for the recruitment of Group-C posts through Himachal Pradesh Rajya Chayan Aayog in Hamirpur.

The Cabinet gave its approval for the upgradation of sub-tehsil Panchrukhi in Kangra district as tehsil, opening new sub-tehsils in Dhamwari of Shimla district, Saho in Chamba district and Chachiyan in Kangra district along with the creation and filling up of requisite posts, the statement said.