Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani. (File)
The Gujarat government will start depositing Rs 1,000 each in the bank accounts of National Food Security Act (NFSA) card holders in six tribal dominated districts of eastern part of the state — Chhota Udepur, Panchmahal, Dahod, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, and Mahisagar — from Monday, in a phased manner.
The government had earlier declared that it would give Rs 1,000 to around 66 lakh NFSA beneficiaries in April.
Ashwani Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, made the announcement here on Sunday, while making public various decisions of the state government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kumar said that the money will be deposited through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in the bank accounts of the card holders. The entire exercise will cost the state exchequer Rs 660 crore, he added.
Kumar also said that following various representations, the Chief Minister has instructed the officials to start trading of tobacco from market yards in the state.
As announced earlier, industrial work outside urban limits and government offices will begin from Monday, after taking necessary permission from the respective district collectors, Kumar said.
Construction works will also be allowed to resume within urban limits provided they follow various conditions such as in-situ residence arrangement for workers, he added.
Government offices will start functioning with limited work force as decided by the concerned Head of the Department (HoD) from Monday. Kumar said the HoD will decide the number of Class I & II officers that will come to work. Whereas, he added, 1/3rd of the Class III & IV employees will be on duty in government offices.
According to Kumar, the state government has also decided to release the vehicles impounded for violations during the lockdown at the compounding fee of Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 depending on the kind of vehicle.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who has been working from his official residence, has started interacting with the elected representatives of different parts of the state through video-conference to get a feedback from the ground on various issues. Starting the initiative from Vadodara city on Sunday, the CM asked the representatives to stand by the people through the use of technology like video-conference, audio-conference, video-calling, etc.